A/HRC/41/26 States, public authorities and institutions to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women. Article 7 guarantees women the right to vote, to hold public office and to participate in the formulation and implementation of government policies on equal terms with men. Article 14 calls upon parties to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas” to ensure that they participate in and benefit from rural development and development planning at all levels. 33. These provisions have clear implications for climate action. In its general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlights the importance of gender-responsive climate action. In general recommendation No. 37, the Committee notes the urgency of mitigating climate change, provides guidance to States on their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in relation to disaster risk reduction and climate change, and highlights steps needed to achieve gender equality and promote climate resilience. It emphasizes that climate change initiatives should provide for women’s full and effective participation, advancing substantive gender equality and women’s empowerment while ensuring progress towards sustainable development. According to the general recommendation, climate change and disaster risk reduction measures should be gender-responsive and “the right of women to participate at all levels of decision-making must be guaranteed in climate change policies and programmes”.72 34. General recommendation No. 37 identifies general principles of the Convention related to disaster risk reduction and climate change: non-discrimination and substantive representation; participation and empowerment; and accountability and access to justice. For each general principle, specific recommendations are made to States. For example, to ensure participation and empowerment, States are recommended to allocate adequate resources to build women’s leadership capacities.73 To promote accountability and access to justice, States should conduct “a gender impact analysis of current laws” to assess their effect on women as regards disaster risk and climate change, and should adopt, repeal or amend laws, norms and practices accordingly. 74 35. General recommendation No. 37 also describes specific areas of obligation related to disaster risk reduction and climate change: assessment and collection of disaggregated data; policy coherence; extraterritorial obligation; international cooperation and resource allocation; non-State actors’ obligations; and capacity-building and access to technology. For example, in the area of capacity-building and access to technology, States parties are called upon to institutionalize women’s leadership, at all levels, in disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery and in climate change mitigation and adaptation.75 2. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 36. According to the preamble of the Paris Agreement, “parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights … as well as gender equality” and the “empowerment of women”. Article 7 (5) of the Paris Agreement refers to the need for gender-responsive climate adaptation and article 11 (2) calls for gender-responsive capacity-building. In the guidelines for implementation of the Paris Agreement, adopted at the twenty-fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, States are invited to provide information about gender-responsive approaches and planning processes in the context of adaptation communications, nationally determined contributions and the transparency framework. Decisions of the twenty-fourth session of the Conference of the Parties also mandate that the new technology framework address gender equality. The decisions also incorporate the recommendations of the Warsaw International 72 73 74 75 See para. 8. See para. 36 (e). See para. 38 (a). See para. 54 (b). 11