A/HRC/62/35 35. Immigration detention also has gendered impacts. Migrant women face heightened risks of sexual and gender-based violence in detention, while access to gender-responsive healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health services, is often lacking. Poor conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and limited access to medical, legal and social support, disproportionately affect women and girls. 86 In Libya, gender-based violence against women and girls is reported to be systematic. Men are also subjected to sexual violence, including rape and sexual exploitation, although such violations are likely to be underreported due to stigma and trauma.87 C. Racial and intersectional discrimination 36. Externalization should be examined in the light of systemic discrimination embedded in migration governance, including racialized mobility hierarchies and discriminatory enforcement practices. In practice, externalization agreements and their implementation result in disproportionate adverse impacts on nationals of global South countries, particularly those belonging to racialized and ethnic minority groups, restricting access to asylum and protection. Externalization measures frequently rely on securitized approaches, including the use of digital technologies at borders, that may result in racial profiling and disproportionate targeting of migrants from the global South for interception, detention and deportation. 88 Externalization thus tends to perpetuate patterns of exclusion and unequal treatment affecting racialized migrants and to weaken protection. 37. Externalization is further structurally intertwined with intersectional forms of discrimination, whereby multiple and intersecting grounds – including race, ethnic origin, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, migration status and socioeconomic position – interact to compound vulnerability and heighten exposure to human rights violations, discrimination and harm. 89 From an intersectional perspective, racial discrimination and gender-based violence are interconnected. For example, women and persons with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics may face heightened risks of discrimination, gender-based violence, trafficking and labour exploitation. 90 Reports indicate that in Nauru, migrants with intersectional vulnerabilities may not receive adequate protection or targeted support, including women who lack access to safe housing and to gender-responsive healthcare.91 VI. Human rights obligations and responsibility 38. Externalization measures pose a significant risk of violating multiple human rights of migrants, yet establishing responsibility and securing redress for victims remains challenging. In addition to the often informal nature of such arrangements, two factors are particularly significant: their extraterritorial character, and the involvement of multiple actors, which may 86 87 88 89 90 91 12 Submissions from UN-Women; International Detention Coalition; and Women in Migration Network; and see EuroMed Rights, “A gendered analysis of EU migration externalisations policies”. UNSMIL and OHCHR, Business as Usual: Human Rights Violations and Abuses against Migrants, Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Libya. Joint general recommendation No. 38 (2025) of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and general comment No. 7 (2025) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on general guidelines for eradicating xenophobia towards migrants and others perceived as such, paras. 13–19 and 48; A/75/590, paras. 22 and 43; and submission from Women in Migration Network. A/HRC/59/62, para. 10; joint general recommendation No. 38 (2025) of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and general comment No. 7 (2025) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, para. 20; and submission from Montenegro. Joint general recommendation No. 38 (2025) of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and general comment No. 7 (2025) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, paras. 48 and 49; and submission from Women in Migration Network. Submissions from A. Talbot and from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. GE.26-06322