A/HRC/38/21 20. Likewise, children who migrate or whose parents migrate due to climate change may be separated from their cultural heritage and face difficulties accessing schools, adequate health care and other necessities. 26 Refugee and other migrant children that miss educational opportunities and/or are left behind by caregivers may suffer long-term socioeconomic impacts, neglect, abuse and exploitation. 27 21. Climate change-related migration can also exacerbate pre-existing inequalities and intensify gender-specific dimensions of discrimination and poverty. 28 According to the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, in its general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change, women migrants face a heightened risk of gender-based violence, including human trafficking and other forms of discrimination. They may also face specific human rights violations owing to a lack of adequate sexual, reproductive and mental health services, as well as discrimination in accessing employment, social security, education, housing, legal documents and justice. Women who migrate may also be vulnerable to climate change impacts in destination areas. Furthermore, gender-based stereotypes, household responsibilities, discriminatory laws, lack of economic resources and limited access to social capital frequently restrict the ability of women to migrate. 22. Those disproportionately affected by climate change — including migrants — are not inherently vulnerable and do not necessarily lack resilience or agency. They should not be treated as victims. On the contrary, they must be recognized as agents, actors and leaders in addressing climate change and its impacts including those related to human mobility. In the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, for example, it is recognized that migrants contribute to the resilience of communities and societies, and their knowledge, skills and capacities can be useful in the design and implementation of disaster risk reduction. Empowering migrants affected by climate change to contribute to and benefit from climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts will require closing human rights protection gaps and ensuring their access to information, decision-making processes and justice. III. Closing human rights protection gaps for climate changerelated cross-border movement 23. The human rights protection gaps for persons crossing borders in response to climate change result from, inter alia, legal and policy gaps, including failure to implement human rights obligations, inadequate understanding of the linkages between human rights, climate change and human mobility, and insufficient means of implementation to support climate change mitigation and adaptation, including safe, orderly and regular migration. A. International law and policy frameworks that specifically address human mobility and/or climate change 1. Refugee law 24. Although people on the move in climate contexts may experience similar hardships as refugees, the definition of refugee under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees excludes the majority of people who cross international borders because of climate change.29 The Convention defines a refugee as a person outside their country of nationality or habitual residence that cannot return owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social 26 27 28 29 See A/HRC/35/13, para. 27; and UNICEF input. UNICEF input. See Atlas of Environmental Migration (footnote 24 above), p. 90. See J. McAdam, “Climate Change Displacement and International Law: Complementary Protection Standards”, (2011), pp. 12–14. Available at www.unhcr.org/protection/globalconsult/4dff16e99/19climate-change-displacement-international-law-complementary-protection.html. 7