A/HRC/35/13 3. Children with disabilities 24. The negative impacts of climate change can exacerbate inequities already experienced by children with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities highlights that the majority of persons with disabilities live in conditions of poverty. Children with disabilities may experience social and economic exclusion, be left out of decision-making processes and have difficulty accessing social services. They are more likely to live in poverty and to experience physical abuse, while at the same time enjoying less access to educational and medical services. 41 These factors can contribute to the disproportionate impact of climate change on children with disabilities. The negative impacts of climate change on children can also lead to an increased risk of health-related disabilities. 25. In emergencies, children with disabilities may suffer higher rates of abuse, neglect and abandonment. 42 Insufficient accessibility considerations in evacuation, response and relief efforts caused by the exclusion of disability issues from disaster planning renders children with disabilities particularly susceptible to injuries and diseases. 43 Barriers to access to food, drinking water and medical relief in the aftermath of disasters can affect health and exacerbate the effects of children’s disabilities.44 4. Children on the move 26. Climate change is increasingly recognized as a key driver of human movement. In the most extreme cases, all inhabitants of some small island States and low-lying coastal areas may need to be relocated. An estimated 22.5 million people per year for the seven years leading up to 2015 have already been displaced by climate- or weather-related disasters.45 These disasters are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity with further climate change. 27. When sudden or slow-onset disasters result in large-scale human movement, children may be separated from their cultural heritage and face barriers in access to schools, adequate health-care facilities and other necessary goods and services. Overcrowded shelters with inadequate sanitation and access to clean water can increase the transmission of diarrhoea and malnutrition rates, both leading causes of child mortality. 46 Inadequate security and protection in some shelters can expose children to abuse and violence. Children travelling alone or separated from their parents can be particularly at risk of emotional, physical and sexual violence. 47 III. Human rights obligations and responsibilities of States and other actors 28. The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Children’s rights are inalienable and universal human rights entitlements enshrined in the Convention, which is the most widely ratified human rights instrument in the world. These rights are also reflected in treaties such 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 8 UNICEF, State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities (New York, 2013), available at www.unicef.org/sowc2013/files/SWCR2013_ENG_Lo_res_24_Apr_2013.pdf. A/HRC/31/30. Global Partnership for Disability and Development and World Bank, “The impact of climate change on people with disabilities” (2009). WHO, “Disasters, disability and rehabilitation” (2005), available at www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/other_injury/disaster_disability2.pdf. Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, Global Estimates 2015: People Displaced by Disasters, p. 8 (Geneva, 2015). UNICEF and WHO, Diarrhoea: Why Children Are Still Dying and What Can Be Done (Geneva, 2009), available at http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44174/1/9789241598415_eng.pdf. UNICEF, The Challenges of Climate Change: Children on the Front Line (Innocenti Insight, Florence, 2014), pp. 29-32.