A/77/189 Overcrowded shelters with inadequate access to sanitation and clean water can increase the transmission of diarrhoea and malnutrition rates, both of which are leading causes of child mortality. Inadequate security and protection in some shelters can expose children to abuse and violence. Children who are travelling alone or separated from their parents can be particularly at risk of emotional, physical and sexual violence (see A/HRC/35/13). 51. The developing bodies of children are more sensitive to the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, decreased air quality, ecosystem disruption, floods, droughts and wildfires. Research shows that climate change impacts directly contribute to asthma, infectious and respiratory diseases, food insecurity and increased mortality. Children also experience exacerbated intersecting vulnerabilities that leave them increasingly at risk of harm. Girls, indigenous children, children with disabilities and other children with heightened vulnerabilities experience climate inequity at disparate levels. 24 52. Children’s education can be disrupted by displacement and migration in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change. Even when the decision to migrate is linked to slow-onset impacts, children’s education can suffer when families move from rural to urban areas and do not have the means to provide formal education to their children. Some children may also be forced to work to support their families, including in dangerous conditions. 25 In Chad, owing to the phenomenon of “child cattle herders”, children on the move are particularly at risk of traff icking and sexual exploitation. As a result of precariousness and a lack of means worsened by the effects of climate change, parents send their children to work with herders in problematic conditions as well in isolated and hostile settings. 53. It is also important to consider the impacts of parents’ migration on children who stay behind. Children who are left behind may remain exposed to hazards and the increasing impacts of environmental degradation, with acute potential impacts on their lives, health and physical integrity. The mental impacts linked to parental separation are also a matter of concern. All these disruptions have an impact on children’s well-being and education and may reduce their resilience to future disasters. 26 Indigenous peoples and minorities 54. Owing to their isolation and exclusion, minorities and indigenous peoples in many countries are disproportionately exposed to the adverse effects of climate change, ranging from rising sea levels and higher temperatu res to increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as severe storms. Populations such as Dalits in South Asia are frequently concentrated in areas such as the flood -prone “colonies” of Dhaka, where a lack of access to water and sanitation leaves residents more vulnerable during monsoons. They may also be sidelined or excluded from emergency assistance in the aftermath of a monsoon owing to discrimination. Their stigmatization is therefore replicated at every stage and may be exacerbated further in the event of displacement, loss of income or illness. 27 55. As has been highlighted by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the adverse effects of climate change are exacerbating the migration and __________________ 24 25 26 27 22-11278 Submission by the Center for the Human Rights of Children, Loyola University School of Law. See www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/1821/file/Children%20on%20the%20Move:%20Why, %20Where,%20How?%20.pdf. See www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/1821/file/Children%20on%20the%20Move:%20Why, %20Where,%20How?%20.pdf. See https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2019_MR_Report_170x240_V7_ WEB.pdf. 13/23