A/HRC/48/74 owing to armed conflicts in the Sahel, some of whom have been recruited as child soldiers by militias. Heightened violence against girls 30. While protection from violence and discrimination is enshrined in the Declaration, indigenous women and girls experience disproportionate rates of all types of violence, including sexual, domestic, gender and conflict-based violence, and those with disabilities are at even greater risk. Indigenous girls are frequently victims of sexual violence, as is the case for Emberá girls in Colombia, and most perpetrators enjoy immunity for their crimes.18 Sexual violence, in addition to a lack of opportunities and of sexual education can lead to early marriages and pregnancies for indigenous girls, exposing them to risks and obstetric violence that they may face because of their youth or ethnic origin.19 Indigenous girls also continue to experience violence through practices such as female genital mutilation. They are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking, including in South America and Asia. States are taking measures to counter this phenomenon, including Canada, which held a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls with the aim of decreasing the levels of violence against them.20 E. Impact of development activities, including the extractive industries 31. Indigenous peoples, including children, are disproportionately affected by development and business activities. Indigenous children often suffer irreparable harm, which gets worse when they are displaced. Such projects often arrive at a critical stage in children’s development, resulting in environmental damage and causing health problems, impacting their rights to education and family life and affecting their traditional territories and enjoyment of their cultural rights. 32. Indigenous peoples have been displaced from their lands for development activities, such as the establishment of national parks. Forced displacement affects all areas of the lives of indigenous children, who lose the connection with their lands and by extension their cultures, with impacts on their language, education and health. That was the case when indigenous peoples in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were forced from their traditional territories for the establishment of the Kahuzi Biega National Park in 1975, which had a disproportionate impact on those who were children then and on their children today. 33. Extractive industries affect the full spectrum of the rights of indigenous children. The arrival of mining in indigenous territories has led to deforestation, limited access to traditional lands, contamination of the environment and water sources, and devastating impacts on health, livestock and crops. Contamination from toxic substances affects the rights to health and a healthy environment, with substances such as mercury and other heavy metals seeping into water sources causing severe health impacts for children and serious damage to fetuses in utero. The Ngati Kuku Maori Peoples report deleterious effects of industrial chemical pollution on their children, including rashes, respiratory symptoms and risk of infection when swimming in ancestral waters.21 34. Guji peoples living near the Lega Dembi mine in Ethiopia have reported suffering increased miscarriages and stillbirths, higher rates of infant mortality and congenital disabilities since the establishment of the mine. Children have experienced chronic health 18 19 20 21 Intervention by Dali Angel, Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y el Caribe. Joint statement and submission to the fourteenth session of the Expert Mechanism by indigenous youth and women’s organizations of Latin America and the Caribbean. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Reclaiming Power and Place, executive summary of the final report (2019). Submission to the fourteenth session of the Expert Mechanism by Whareroa marae and Ngati Kuku Maori Peoples. 7