A/77/549 global ecological crisis is predicted to wipe out some of their territories before the end of the twenty-first century. 65 Race, ethnicity, national origin and climate-induced displacement 34. As the Special Rapporteur has detailed in prior reports, racial and xenophobic discrimination are root causes of forced displacement, but they also significantly determine who can move within and across borders, and who is immobilized against their will. 66 This is true in the context of environmental and climate induced displacement. 67 Manifestations of environmental racism and climate injustice include forced displacement, as well as the inability of racially marginalized peoples to flee contamination hotspots or areas of escalated natural disaster risk. 35. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 90 per cent of refugees and most internally displaced persons come from highly climate vulnerable countries. 68 At the same time, highly climate vulnerable countries host over 40 per cent of refugees, while internally displaced persons in conflict-affected and climate vulnerable countries are often displaced to areas where they are exposed and vulnerable to climate-related hazards. 69 The risk for refugees and internally displaced persons is two-fold: on the one hand, settlements are disproportionately concentrated in regions that are exposed to higher-than-average warming levels and specific climate hazards, including temperature extremes and drought; on the other hand, these populations frequently inhabit settlements and legal circumstances that are intended to be temporary but are protracted across generations, all the while facing legal and economic barriers in their ability to migrate away from climate impacts. Large concentrations of these settlements are in the Sahel, 70 the Near East and Central Asia, 71 where temperatures will rise higher than the global average, and extreme temperatures will exceed thresholds for safe habitation. Many refugees are racially and ethnically marginalized people. Systemic racism in international border regimes constrains the movement of racially marginalized peoples, while allowing citizens of the global North unprecedented autonomy to travel, migrate 72 and avoid environmentally unsafe areas. With climate change being framed as a security issue, security corporations and other actors are contributing to border militarization that further prevents many displaced by climate conditions from finding safety. 73 Within countries, spatial segregation and discrimination in housing or economic opportunities traps racially marginalized communities in specific locations within the country. 74 36. A number of submissions highlighted forced displacement from racial sacrifice zones, as well as the racist and xenophobic treatment of migrants and refugees who __________________ 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 22-24043 Ibid. See A/HRC/38/52; A/HRC/48/76; A/75/590; A/HRC/44/57; and A/HRC/35/41. Carmen Gonzalez, “Climate change, race, and migration”, Journal of Law and Political Economy, vol. 109 (2020). UN News, “Climate change link to displacement of most vulnerable is clear: UNHCR”, 22 April 2021. Based on analysis of available data from Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Global Internal Displacement database, available at www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data; and the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, Country Index database, available at https://gain.nd.edu/our-work/country-index/. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Decade of Sahel conflict leaves 2.5 million people displaced”, 14 January 2022. UNHCR, “Displaced on the frontlines of the climate emergency”, 2021. E. Tendayi Achiume, “Racial borders”, The Georgetown Law Journal, vol. 110, No. 3 (2022). Submission from Francis. See A/HRC/49/48. 11/24