30 Boshoff/Protecting the African child in a changing climate children, labour and sexual exploitation which has the biggest impact on girl children, who may be ‘forced into marriage, domestic servitude, cheap labour, and sexual exploitation’.32 Not just during migration and conflict, but also generally ‘[i]n times of hardship, child marriage is also likely to increase’ as families try to ease the burden on their limited resources. 33 Finally, with regard to the right to participation, children are often overlooked in discussions about how best to address climate change challenges. This is because children are often regarded as unable to grasp the problem, or unable to contribute in a constructive and meaningful way to its solution. However, numerous case studies, among others conducted by UNICEF, have proven the valuable input that can be provided by children, once they are empowered with the necessary knowledge.34 Girl children, because of their particular vulnerability, also have a very specific perspective to contribute to discussions on how to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. But because they are often slotted under the heading of either ‘children’ or ‘women’, their specific needs resulting from their intersecting identities are often overlooked. Girl children are also the group least likely to participate in decision-making processes, either because of socialisation which diminishes the worth of their opinions or because of lack of relevant child-friendly information.35 While lack of access to education, malnutrition, sexual exploitation and the other impacts set out above are all complex issues with multiple causes and the extent to which climate change is in a ‘complex interaction … with other social, economic, political and cultural drivers’ makes it hard to quantify the exact causal relationship, scientists have repeatedly established that there is a link between climate change and increases in the violations set out above.36 For this reason it is necessary in the quest to finding holistic solutions, to recognise the role played by climate change in contributing to and exacerbating these violations. Having considered some of the impacts, including gendered impacts arising from physical or socially constructed differences between the sexes, of climate change for African children, the next section will attempt to ascertain the extent to which there is protection in the African human rights system against these human rights violations perpetrated against children in a climate change context. 32 UNICEF (n 11 above) 17; Children in a Changing Climate Coalition (n 16 above) 1; UNODC ‘Current Status of victim service providers and criminal justice actors in India on Anti human Trafficking’ (2013) http://www.unodc.org/documents/southasia// reports/Human_Trafficking-10-05-13.pdf. 33 UNICEF (n 11 above) 17; Children in a Changing Climate Coalition (n 16 above) 1. 34 UNICEF (n 11 above) 22. 35 Children in a Changing Climate Coalition (n 16 above) 2; UN Women Watch (n 8 above) 2. 36 UNICEF (n 11 above) 3, 5; IPCC (n 2 above); CDKN (n 15 above) 24. See also J Barnett & WN Adger ‘Climate change, human security and violent conflict’ (2007) 26 Political Geography 639-655; S Caney ‘Climate change, human rights and moral thresholds’ in Gartner et al Climate ethics (2010) 163-177.