School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.
BMJ Paediatr Open. 2022 Jul;6(1). doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001518.
Climate change is exacerbating a pre-existing child rights crisis. Lower- (low- and lower-middle-) income countries have borne 99% of the disease burden from the crisis, of which children under five carry 90%. In response, much of the recent global policy efforts focus on climate action. However, unsustainable levels of debt and tax abuses are draining countries of crucial revenue to handle the crisis. Like the climate crisis, these are primarily facilitated by entities domiciled within higher- (upper-middle- and high-) income countries. This paper aims to review these revenue leaks in countries where children are at the greatest risk of climate change to identify opportunities to increase climate change resilience.
We compiled data on tax abuse, debt service and climate risk for all lower-income countries with available data to highlight the need for intervention at the global level. We used the Climate Change Risk Index (CCRI), developed by UNICEF. Additionally, we used figures for tax abuse and debt service as a percentage of government revenue.
We present data on 62 lower-income countries with data on revenue losses, of which 55 have CCRI data. Forty-two of these 62 countries (67.7%) are at high risk of lost government revenues. Forty-one (74.5%) of the 55 countries with CCRI data are at high risk of climate change. Thirty-one countries with data on both (56.4%) are at high risk of both climate change and revenue losses. Most countries at high risk of both are located in sub-Saharan Africa. This shows that countries most in need of resources lose money to arguably preventable leaks in government revenue.
Higher-income countries and global actors can adopt policies and practices to ensure that they do not contribute to human rights abuses in other countries. Highlighting the impact of a failing global economic model on children's economic and social rights and one which increases their vulnerability to the climate emergency could help drive the transition towards a model that prioritises human rights and the environment on which we all depend.
气候变化正在加剧先前存在的儿童权利危机。中低收入国家（低收入和中低收入国家）承担了危机中 99%的疾病负担，其中 90%的负担落在五岁以下儿童身上。为此，最近的许多全球政策努力都集中在气候行动上。然而，不可持续的债务水平和税收滥用正在使各国耗尽应对危机的关键收入。与气候危机一样，这些主要是由高收入国家（中上收入和高收入国家）境内的实体促成的。本文旨在审查这些收入漏洞，以确定在儿童面临最大气候变化风险的国家增加应对气候变化能力的机会。
我们汇编了所有低收入国家的税收滥用、债务服务和气候风险数据（有可用数据的国家），以突出全球一级干预的必要性。我们使用了儿童基金会开发的气候变化风险指数（CCRI）。此外，我们还使用了税收滥用和债务服务占政府收入的百分比数据。
我们提供了 62 个低收入国家的收入损失数据，其中 55 个国家有 CCRI 数据。在这 62 个国家中，有 42 个（67.7%）面临政府收入损失的高风险。在有 CCRI 数据的 55 个国家中，有 41 个（74.5%）面临气候变化的高风险。在有这两个数据的 31 个国家中（56.4%），有 31 个国家面临气候变化和收入损失的双重高风险。面临这两种高风险的大多数国家都位于撒哈拉以南非洲。这表明，最需要资源的国家因政府收入的可避免漏洞而损失资金。
高收入国家和全球行为体可以采取政策和做法，确保他们不会助长其他国家的侵犯人权行为。强调全球经济模式的失败对儿童的经济和社会权利的影响，以及这种模式如何增加他们对气候紧急情况的脆弱性，这可能有助于推动向一个优先考虑人权和我们赖以生存的环境的模式过渡。
