A/77/549 protect displaced people, and their human rights are further jeopardized by racial and ethnic criminalization when they attempt to migrate. Indigenous, non -Spanishspeaking and Black migrants face barriers in accessing jobs, education, health and housing services owing to institutionalized discrimination. 40. In many submissions to the Special Rapporteur it was noted that Indigenous peoples faced the prospect of being forced out of their ancestral and traditional homelands owing to rising sea levels and natural disasters. In one submission it was reported that, in India, Indigenous Peoples account for 40 per cent to 50 per cent of those displaced despite making up just 8 per cent of the total population. 81 The disruptive impacts of industrial projects in their territories are a main cause. Entire Indigenous territories, in particular those in the small island developing States, are at risk, and even the full-scale relocation of entire State populations will not rectify the fallout from the destruction of their islands. 82 The permanent loss of Indigenous homelands is and will remain a massive global failure and a deep racial injustice in the absence of urgent rectificatory action. III. Racially discriminatory environmental human rights violations A. Applicable legal frameworks 41. Non-discrimination and the prohibition on racial discrimination are peremptory norms of public international law. 83 Non-discrimination and equality obligations are also broadly enshrined in international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 84 42. The most comprehensive prohibition of racial discrimination can be found in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In article 1 (1), racial discrimination is defined as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and funda mental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life” . In its general recommendation, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has clarified that the prohibition of racial discrimination cannot be interpreted restrictively. 85 The Committee has also stated that the Convention applies __________________ 81 82 83 84 85 22-24043 Submission from Gupta. Submission from Vano. See A/77/10; and A/CN.4/727. See also, Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1970, p. 3; and Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 16. Regional human rights mechanisms have reiterated the status of non-discrimination and equality principles and obligations as foundational to enjoyment of human rights. See e.g., African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, communication No. 245/2002, para. 169; and Inter-American Court on Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC-18/03 of September 2003, para. 101. See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 2; Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 2; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 1; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 1; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 2; and International Labour Organization, Convention No. 111 (1958) concerning discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, para. 1(a). Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 (2009). 13/24