A/HRC/54/71 including the removal of children and the termination of parental rights and racialized decision-making and outcomes. 68. The Working Group also noted the historical basis for such actions. Internationally, the families of people of African descent had been torn apart and deeply affected by legalized separation initiatives since the beginning of trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans and the international agreement that people of African descent and their children were property to be sold, trafficked and traded. Supporting that system were the ships of the enslavers, the auction block, systematic rape and forced breeding and inhumane work expectations during and after pregnancy. Also connected were the criminalization of poverty, substance use and abortion and the racial norms that hypersexualized women of African descent, labelled them as immoral and delegitimized their authority and investments in their own children and families. Environmental racism, the climate crisis and people of African descent 69. People of African descent continue to be subjected to environmental racism and disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. Environmental racism refers to environmental injustice in practice and policies in racialized societies. Environmental racism is a measurable contemporary manifestation of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, Afrophobia and related intolerance.60 70. Environmental racism is perpetrated by States, international corporations and other non-State actors, often in violation of international human rights obligations and local laws, and with deliberate indifference to the impact on communities of African descent. It is for this reason that the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action contains a request that States, supported by international cooperation, as appropriate, consider positively concentrating additional investments in environmental control in communities of primarily African descent. Environmental justice and reparations are human rights to which people of African descent are entitled. 71. The climate crisis, which is characterized by global warming and climate change as a result of human decision-making, has already had a disproportionate impact on the lives of people of African descent. Disproportionate effects have also been reported on the African continent. Communities and even entire States that occupy and rely upon low-lying coastal lands, tundra and Arctic ice, arid lands and other delicate ecosystems are at particular risk. Policymaking, including for States’ responses to the climate crisis, may strengthen the impact of the climate crisis on communities of African descent, which often have less political and positional power locally and globally. Addressing the climate crisis requires a human rightsbased approach that prioritizes the inclusion of people of African descent in decision-making at all stages, including preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. 72. The Working Group has noted that priority should be given to increasing the participation of people of African descent in the design and implementation of climate change emergency response, adaptation and mitigation measures. Opportunities should be taken to address climate change and racial discrimination together, rather than treating them separately.61 V. Cooperation with other mechanisms 73. The Working Group, as a special procedure of the Human Rights Council, cooperates and takes joint action, including for communications, press releases and other activities, with other mandate holders, in particular with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. 74. As one of the mechanisms created to ensure the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the outcome of the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the Working 60 61 GE.23-15301 See A/HRC/48/78. A/HRC/48/78, paras. 73–87. 15