Child/youth leadership and climate cases: Postpaternalism in the courts?

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dc.contributor.authorDaly, Aoife
dc.contributor.authorWalsh, Lucy
dc.date.accessioned2026-09-14T14:57:01Z
dc.date.available2026-09-14T14:57:01Z
dc.date.issued2026-07-27
dc.description.abstractThis article examines the phenomenon of child/youth leadership within climatelitigation. We argue that it is a part of postpaternalism, whereby children/youth engagein grassroots action (for the first time, on a global scale), rather than well-meaning adults ‘giving’ them their rights. Analysis is provided of 15 child/youth-involved climate cases.We identified that the leadership of children is inherent in their taking of these cases,and particularly in the way that they assert their constitutional/human rights as legalactors. We found significant reference in applications to children’s leadership in theircommunities and countries. Children are engaging in leadership as they see it on behalfof all children/youth; or on behalf of humanity more broadly. We found some limitedreference to their leadership in the judgments and outcomes of cases. We conclude byarguing that the involvement of children/youth in these cases is crucial for human rightsand for the climate.en
dc.description.versionPublished Version
dc.format.extent26
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.authororcidDaly, Aoife§0000-0002-4005-9803
dc.identifier.authororcidWalsh, Lucy
dc.identifier.citationDaly, A. and Walsh, L. (2026) 'Child/youth leadership and climate cases: Postpaternalism in the courts?', Oñati Socio-Legal Series, pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2552en
dc.identifier.doi10.35295/osls.iisl.2552
dc.identifier.endpage26
dc.identifier.issn2079-5971
dc.identifier.journaltitleOñati Socio-Legal Series
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-4005-9803/work/221916535
dc.identifier.startpage1
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19248
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherOnati International Institute for the Sociology of Law
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2552
dc.rights© 2026, the Authors. This is an open access work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
dc.rights.accessrightsopen access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectChildren’s rights
dc.subjectClimate crisis
dc.subjectCases
dc.subjectClimate Change Litigation
dc.subject[Law]
dc.titleChild/youth leadership and climate cases: Postpaternalism in the courts?en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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