A/HRC/38/40 many States, as well as to the international community as a whole. The distribution of these refugees remains very uneven, creating a greater burden on certain States. For example, countries in Africa and the Middle East, many of which lack adequate resources to do so, currently host over 56 per cent of the world’s displaced people.14 As such, any viable and just refugee protection regime must, for this and other reasons, be founded on enhanced human rights-based international solidarity. 36. The Independent Expert will analyse the role of human rights-based international solidarity in addressing some of the key refugee-related concerns and issues that presently confront many States and the international community. Therefore, he intends to address and report on issues such as: (a) the human rights-based solidarity deficits of certain kinds of State partnerships in the refugee area; (b) ways and means of augmenting significantly the human rights-based solidarity that other States and actors show to the States that host large numbers of refugees; (c) the question of the compliance under international human rights law of the criminalization of individuals and groups (especially human rights activists) who show solidarity to refugees and asylum seekers; (d) human rights-based solidarity deficits in the current responsibility-sharing frameworks and practices; (e) the possibility of significant increases in the numbers of visas issued to refugees by the more popular destination States; (f) the phenomenon of conditionalized aid linked to the signing of refugee readmission agreements; and (g) uses and abuses of the concept and practice of international solidarity in the refugee rights area. C. Climate change and international solidarity 37. The Independent Expert is of the opinion that the challenges presented by climate change, and its adverse consequences for humanity and the environment, are issues that greatly concern States and the international community as a whole. Collective action on the part of both international and local actors is clearly required if this inherently global problem is to be addressed effectively. The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, proclaimed in Stockholm in 1972, recognized “the need for a common outlook and for common principles to inspire and guide the peoples of the world”.15 Further, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, of 1992, stresses the nexus between cooperation among States and sustainable development; and firmly enshrined in the international law of climate change is the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” — the idea that each State bears different responsibilities because of its varied contribution to environmental degradation, but that all share a need to act to counter those harms. 16 These multilateral instruments call for international cooperation “in a spirit of global partnership” geared towards conservation and protection of the Earth’s ecosystem. Clearly, this is an issue that interfaces and interacts very closely with human rights-based international solidarity. 38. The Independent Expert will study and comment and report on a number of issues that come under the rubric of climate change and international solidarity, including the following: (a) equity in the emerging climate finance framework (e.g. Should the most vulnerable climate change-affected countries get the most funds?); (b) the nexus between climate finance and the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights for everyone in the world; and (c) the question of common but differentiated responsibilities in the climate change area as a basis for international solidarity in this area. This work will be particularly relevant in the context of future iterations of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is also relevant in the context of the broader effort to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change. 14 15 16 10 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “Figures at a glance”, available at www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html. See A/CONF.48/14/Rev.1, preamble to the Declaration. See A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol. I), principle 7.