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The United Nations has decreed that children must be protected from exposure to violence, including violence against animals. A leading proponent of this seismic development in world ethics, is South Africa’s own Professor at Law Ann Skelton.
Until a month ago, Professor Skelton was the chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee has played a pivotal role in raising awareness on why and how exposure to violence can impact a child’s emotional and psychological health, for life.
Here Professor Skelton kindly agrees to give us further insight. Nature-based Education is privileged to share Professor Skelton’s voice with our teachers and learners.
Professor Ann Skelton has recently ended her term as the Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, an international body of which she was a member for 8 years. She is a Law Professor and holds the UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria, and the Chair in Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World at the University of Leiden. She worked as a children’s rights lawyer in South Africa for 30 years where she played a leading role in child law reform.
Professor Skelton pioneered strategic litigation on children’s rights from the Centre for
Child Law (where she was Director from 2008 to 2018) and appeared as counsel in many landmark cases in the South African courts, including cases enforcing the right to education.
READ THE INTERVIEW BELOW
Nature-based Education:
Professor Skelton, on 18th September 2023, a major shift took place in the realm of world ethics when the UNCRC issued its General Comment on Children’s Rights and the Environment. For the first time in history, as part of their right to environmental health, the UNCRC decreed that children are to be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence whether in their home or in society, and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or violence inflicted on animals (see HERE).
This is an acknowledgement at the highest international level that how we treat animals matters – for ourselves, as much as for them. Could you give us insight into the build-up of information that culminated in this majorly progressive global step?
Professor Skelton:
Let me first explain that the main task of the CRC Committee is to monitor how states are doing on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee has previously asked States, for example, Spain, about the effects on children of witnessing bullfighting. This General Comment that you are referring to was issued by the Committee, and is an authoritative document that indicates the Committee’s interpretation of the rights in the Convention. We were considering the environment, and we wanted to stress the importance of educating children about the natural environment, and stressing their close connection to that environment, including to animals.
Nature-based Education:
The South American country of Colombia was one of the first UN member states to respond. In July 2024, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced a ban on bull-fighting, calling it a victory for both children and animals. Do you think the world is undergoing a cultural transformation in regard to animals?
Professor Skelton:
Well as I specialize in children’s rights I am not sure about transformations with regard to animals. But I do think that there is a growing understanding of the importance of animals to children, and that children’s empathy and development are linked to their relationships with others, and with animals.
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Nature-based Education:
In February 2024 at the UNs’ 95th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Committee Vice-Chair Dr Rinchen Chophel urged the South African delegation to criminalise the practice of allowing children to participate in trophy hunting. The industry behind this hugely lucrative sport seems to be keeping mum on the issue. Could you comment please?
Professor Skelton:
As I am a South African, I actually did not participate in the South African dialogue, but I sat in the room and listened to it. So yes, I hear my colleague asking this question. Dr Chophel is from Bhutan which is a Buddhist country that prides itself on promoting happiness – and he frequently speaks up about the connections between children’s rights and animal welfare.
​Nature-based Education:
It seems we have a very long way to go. For example, the Gadhimai Festival in India exposes children to a two-day sacrifice of millions of animals. We have thousands of homeless dogs being shot in the streets of Morocco. How much time do you think this transition in world ethics will take?
Professor Skelton:
What I can tell you is that all the States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child must come to report to the Committee every 5 years — and we provide them with recommendations that include the kinds of recommendations you have been pointing to — to stop exposure of children to hunting, or to bullfighting, or to culling done in a brutal way.
Nature-based Education:
We have reached out to UNICEF (Africa) on several occasions for comment and a show of support for GC26 Article 35, but have received no response at all. Other countries have had a similar experience in their efforts to engage UNICEF. We wonder why the most powerful agency for the protection of children seems lackluster in regard to this particular mandate of the CRC.
Professor Skelton:
UNICEF is a very important player in Children’s Rights – they probably have their hands full with all of the crises affecting children in the world today. I did read an interesting article about work being done in Ukraine by UNICEF, together with children, to provide safety for animals displaced by the war. Going beyond UNICEF: There is also a recognition in the children’s rights world of the therapeutic effect of animals for children who are ill or who are traumatized.
Nature-based Education:
We recently celebrated the UNs’ International Day of Education on 24th January 2025. Please could you give us a message for the teachers who visit and make use of our nature-based education platform which is underpinned by the Five Freedoms for Animals, as endorsed by the World Organisation for Animal Health.
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Professor Skelton:
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is a binding instrument that creates obligations for states, says that children must be educated to have respect for the natural environment. So engaging in nature-based education is not just a nice to have — it is a right!
The Committee’s General Comment on the Environment, that we spoke about earlier, is also available in a child friendly version, so teachers can use it in their work.
See HERE
Nature-based Education:
We thank you.
Children’s empathy and development are linked to their relationships with others, and with animals.
Engaging in nature-based education is not just a nice to have – it is a right!
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Research on “The Link between Animal Abuse and Human Violence” gives insight into the domino effect of animal abuse.
The process begins when children, who are repeatedly exposed to abuse and degradation become desensitised.
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