Online Reporter
Moses Magadza
RESEARCHERS serving on the Sweden-funded SRHR (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights), HIV and AIDS Governance Project of the SADC Parliamentary Forum have called for urgent, integrated and child-responsive climate action across the region.
The researchers spoke at the end of a SADC Regional Seminar on Children’s Rights and Climate Change, which took place at the School of Public Health of the University of the Western Cape last week under the auspices of the African Children’s Charter Project.
The seminar ran under the theme “Championing Collective Child-Responsive Climate Action”.
The four parliamentary researchers from Madagascar, Malawi, Lesotho and Mauritius spoke about why parliaments and policymakers can no longer ignore the intersection between climate, children’s rights, and sexual and reproductive health.
“Climate change is not only an environmental crisis. It is a child rights crisis,” said Ms Ida Raveloson Tchiourson from Madagascar.
“We see this clearly in Madagascar, where cyclones, droughts and forced displacements undermine children’s education, health and protection, especially for girls.”
Disasters, she said, often lead to early marriages, sexual exploitation and disrupted access to SRHR services.
“In the chaos of climate emergencies, adolescent girls sometimes sleep next to unknown adult men in crowded shelters, with no privacy, no hygiene kits,and no protection … This must change,” she added.
The researchers agreed that SRHR and HIV vulnerabilities are amplified by climate shocks.
Ms Gomezgani Ngwira Kateka of Malawi cited the devastation of Cyclone Freddy, which destroyed 79 health facilities and cut off access to family planning services.
Ms Mammehela Matamane from Lesotho said drought-induced food insecurity is fuelling early and forced marriages in the region, which directly compromises girls’ sexual and reproductive health.
“Climate stressors are not isolated; they worsen SRHR and HIV vulnerabilities, especially for children who are already marginalised,” she said.
The researchers called for parliaments to move beyond rhetoric.
Ms Poorneeka Ramjuttun Juglall from Mauritius urged SADC legislatures to make budgets child-sensitive and climate-informed.
“The climate crisis is today’s injustice. Parliamentarians must integrate climate resilience into SRHR oversight and demand data that tells us how children living with HIV are impacted,” she said.
Ms Raveloson added that national laws must reflect regional commitments.
“We need climate policies that explicitly integrate children’s rights, including SRHR, especially in humanitarian responses,” she said.
The researchers also pointed to existing tools and partnerships that can accelerate progress.
These include: the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage; national working groups under the SRHR, HIV and AIDS Governance Project; social accountability platforms bringing together MPs (Members of Parliament), civil society organisations (CSOs), youth and researchers; gender- and child-sensitive budget analyses already in use.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” said Ms Matamane, adding: “We need to connect the dots between climate, children’s rights and SRHR using what already exists.”
Several concrete follow-up actions were proposed to ensure that the seminar leads to real reforms.
These include establishing a regional taskforce on climate and children’s rights, integrating seminar outcomes into the draft SADC Protocol on Children and convening annual reviews led by parliaments and civil society.
Online Reporter