A/HRC/EMRIP/2019/2 migration, and disabled persons are more likely to experience violence, abuse and exploitation.86 72. Gender discrimination puts indigenous women in vulnerable situations, in particular during migration. Their experience differs from that of their male counterparts, including with respect to their roles and responsibilities. 87 They are affected disproportionately by violations of their rights and suffer exploitation and abuse, including sexual and genderbased violence.88 73. One of the most insidious problems for indigenous women and girls is the high risk of human trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation, including for the Miskito women in Nicaragua and Honduras (see A/HRC/30/41). One of the contributory factors to human trafficking is the lack of birth registration or citizenship documentation and consequential statelessness in some countries. This also limits women and children’s access to basic public services, including health and education. A lack of resources for antitrafficking measures contributes to this phenomenon (see CEDAW/C/HND/CO/7-8). 74. Border regions appear to constitute one of the areas of highest risk of trafficking for sexual purposes. The tri-border area of the Amazon, where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet, has long been recognized as a serious concern by various social actors, regional institutions and national authorities. Commercial sexual exploitation of children is present in at least three economic sectors in the tri-border region: travel and tourism, the mining sector and drug trafficking. At border crossings, indigenous women are reportedly subjected to harassment, extortion and rape by State officials. There are reports in Nicaragua and Honduras that indigenous women who cross national borders every day to work their lands or to gather medicinal plants are routinely exposed to sexual violence (see A/HRC/30/41). 75. During armed conflict, sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and forced pregnancy, is used as a weapon to weaken the resolve of indigenous communities in militarized disputes over land and resources (E/2012/43-E/C.19/2012/13). Indigenous children are recruited to participate in armed conflict (E/2016/43-E/C.19/2016/11). 76. Some of the causes of migration only affect women and relate to discrimination within their own communities, as with the Maasai, in Kenya, where the inheritance of land runs along patriarchal lines. As the removal of land devalues indigenous women’s status, this policy has fuelled indigenous women’s migration to the cities. A further example of inter-community discrimination relates to the experience of a trans woman in a caravan of indigenous peoples fleeing Nicaragua, who affirmed that she had to leave her tribal community by the age of 12 or face dangerous consequences at the hands of her own tribal government.89 77. In other countries, such as Thailand and Bangladesh, indigenous women’s status can be undermined when they no longer have access to forests upon which they depend for their livelihoods, as in the production of medicines. If access to the forest is removed, women’s status in the community changes, encouraging migration and resulting in the loss of traditional knowledge.90 Other issues, such as domestic violence, marriage breakdown and early death of spouses drive the migration of women. 78. Indigenous women face particular challenges in the move from rural to urban settings. They are in a more vulnerable situation, no longer protected by traditional law, and without trust in the police, due to bias, and experience misconduct and abuse, 91 leaving them vulnerable to trafficking, forced labour and prostitution (E/2004/43-E/C.19/2004/23). In Canada, there is an increased risk that indigenous women will be subjected to sexual violence, and they are three times more likely to be killed than non-indigenous women. 86 87 88 89 90 91 UNICEF submission. Minority Rights Group International, Expert Mechanism seminar, Thailand, November 2018. UNHCR submission. https://transgenderlawcenter.org/archives/13983. Minority Rights Group International, Expert Mechanism seminar, Thailand, November 2018. Ibid. 17