 Today, we are launching the fact sheet, which was done jointly with OHCHR. But above all, for those who are joining our monthly webinars, this is an opportunity to exchange around a topic, to ask questions, to share maybe some of the challenges you may face around this topic in your work. Or on the contrary, also the good practices or some emerging practices that you have already in place. This fact sheet that I will put in the chat the link to, has been actually shared just recently during the last 49th Human Rights Council session and it's in a way symbolic, because it was the same week when the special reporter on climate change was appointed. So there is a momentum, there is definitely much more attention now, what is the impact on human rights of persons in relation to climate change, and especially in relation to persons who have been forcibly displaced. So it's really a good timing and in today's event, we will look into those topics and what's interesting is that we will hear about different tools and documents that can support you in your work on this topic in the field. So we will hear from various colleagues presenting documents or tools that have been developed and that are complementary, and that can maybe inspire you a little bit in terms of what can be done, and how to take this forward in practical terms in your fieldwork. So we very much look forward to this event. You already know the ground rules for our exchange, so if you can stay on mute, but please do use very actively the chat throughout the event. We will be monitoring it constantly. If you would like then to share anything in life or direct, please raise your hand as well. We will be monitoring those of course very closely as we come to the questions and discussion part of our webinar. So with that, I will not take more of your time before, and I would like to present you the panelists today. We are very fortunate to have with us today Cecilia Jimenez-Namari, who is the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, and then of course many of you know Cecilia. We have had many interactions with her in her mandate, and she has been very actively involved in clusters work and interactions with field colleagues. We will hear from her about her work on the topic in the opening remarks. Then we will go to the panel, and here we will hear from Isabel Michel, who works for UNHCR, who will present us the fact sheet that we are officially launching today, but also mention the different legal frameworks that govern the situation of displaced persons, so that we have a bit more clarity. We won't go into details, of course, but Isabel will also point you to various resources that exist, and we can take it more in detail than bilaterally if you feel the need. After Isabel, we will hear from Alice Ochsenbein from OHCHR, and she will share with us very concrete examples about OHCHR work in the Sahel region, about projects that are in place, the links between climate change and human rights, and what it means in practice. So this will be very interesting to listen to Alice. And we will also have a presentation from Nancy Poluton from the Global Protection Cluster, who will outline the key elements of the Global Protection Cluster's guidance on protection in the context of climate change, and how, again, very practically this can relate to your work. So you see, we try to make it a very practical point due to existing resources or practices that are there. So take today's events as really a platform to connect on this topic, to start discussing it, and guide you through the existing resources that are already there. We will also have an intervener from the floor, Meron, who will share with us the information about UNHCR guidance that can be relevant to you if you are a UNHCR colleague, but also an NGO or civil society member. And we will open up for discussion, questions before wrapping up this event. So as you see, a very, very interesting program, we hope. And I see a lot of colleagues are joining from different operations, Uganda, Pretoria, Congo, Chad, Mali, Jordan, Ethiopia. So it's fantastic to see all of you connected. Please do continue introducing yourself in the chat. And with that, I think we can start. And I would like to give the floor, please, to the special reporter to Cecilia to open our event, please. Over to you, Cecilia. Thank you so much, Valérie, and really sincere thanks to the UNHCR for this invitation. But before I give the substance of my opening remarks, I really would like to acknowledge the role that Valérie has undertaken in her fantastic work as the task team co-lead. Before she takes up her next field assignment with UNHCR, Valérie and I got to know each other very well in close quarters when I undertook my visit to Niger a few years ago. And since then it's been a very good experience working with her, very professional. So I wish you luck in your next assignment. Having collaborated with you, with the GPC, with the clusters UNHCR together on many occasions at global and field levels in several years, this event and the publications that it will be launching are actually indicative of the dedication of Valérie and you, all of you colleagues on behalf of both UNHCR and GPC to fostering multi-stakeholder human rights engagement and generating the momentum on important displacement issues. My mandate as a UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons has in fact benefited from these stakeholder efforts and the quality of the engagement of the UNHCR and the GPC teams and human rights champions. The contributions, your contributions to developing for example, my reports to the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council has been most valuable as well as a dissemination of those reports and picking up on the recommendations. This is why I very much welcome today's discussion and exchange of experience as this discussion and exchange speak also to my report very closely to the UN General Assembly in 2020. In that year, I presented a report to the GA which was very much accepted and endorsed and acknowledged by the international community, save one state at the time. And this report was on internal displacement in the context of slow onset adverse effects of climate change. And if you are wondering which state was not very happy with my report but I can tell you it's the USA or it was the USA. In any case, I think now with the change of government there has been really as well an acknowledgement that the report that I presented to the GA in 2020 was very much relevant and still very valuable, particularly because of the issues that slow onset adverse effects of climate change and the links that it has to internal displacement are pertinent and valid. Human mobility in the context of slow onset adverse effects of climate change can indeed take many forms including displacement, migration and planned relocation. And this may be internal or cross border. In most cases, movement is not entirely voluntary or forced but rather falls somewhere on the continuum between the two with different degrees of voluntariness and constraint. And where, however, where such voluntariness is absent for example, when the place becomes inhabitable such mobility falls squarely in the notion of forced displacement. And these issues are, I'm bringing up these issues because they actually speak a lot with regard to protection and the way that we international entities are able to respond to that situation. Now, there is now extensive evidence of the widespread impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of human rights such as the rights to life, health, housing, food, water and education, cultural rights and collective rights. And these of course includes the rights of indigenous peoples and the right to self determination. Those impacts contribute to displacement and displacement further impacts the enjoyment of human rights. I actually look forward to hearing more of the UNHCR analysis of the legal considerations for claims for international protection which actually warms against a narrow focus in a single climate change event or disaster and emphasizes that climate change and disasters may have significant adverse effects on state and societal structures, individual wellbeing and the enjoyment of human rights. So a slow onset adverse effects of climate change can turn into a disaster displacement and can pose, do pose direct risks to human rights. The lens I actually propose has three areas of consideration. The first is the vulnerability of persons impacted in terms of human rights and you'll notice as climate change affects different areas in varied ways human mobility patterns including internal displacement and impacts on human rights are context specific and the level of vulnerability of individuals and households play plays an important role in their mobility. For example, communities lying in certain areas such as low lying coastal areas, small island states, Arctic ecosystems are more exposed to slow onset events and therefore at a higher risk of disaster displacement. And this is not to minimize the effects of sudden onset displacement either. Moreover, people depending on local natural resources for their livelihoods are affected in more directly and at higher risk of displacement. This includes indigenous peoples, pastoralists, fisher folk and farmers within these vulnerable groups are specific persons as well who may be more vulnerable to risks to their human rights such as children, elderly people with disabilities. The second point I would like to raise is that the enhancement of affected populations, political agency is important. In many contexts, they display remarkable strength, resourcefulness and resilience in the face of disasters and displacement. Despite the challenges, barriers and discrimination that they face, they also have traditional knowledge and valuable perspectives that can contribute to the design of programmatic responses, disaster risk reduction strategies and durable solutions. It is therefore essential that participation of internally displaced persons be placed at the core of all our responses. The third and last area for due attention is the state's primary responsibility and for its human rights obligations vis-a-vis its populations. And this should be paired with the essentiality of solidarity from other members of the international community, including other states and of course, UN agencies. This should not be merely in the form of humanitarian assistance, complementary to the state, but likewise in their own implementation of its own protective and due diligence standards under international conventions such as the Paris Agreement. As I said, I very much welcome this event and also the appointment of a new special rapporteur on climate change who had just been appointed recently and he is from Tuvalu. And actually I very much look forward to meeting him when during the annual special rapporteurs meeting we will be having in June in Geneva. And during the, I recall that during the adoption of the resolution in the UN Human Rights Council, the adoption of that resolution establishing the special rapporteur on climate change, I was participating in a side event where I was asked what will be the relevance of a special rapporteur on climate change when many of us special rapporteurs, not just myself, but for example, migration, racial discrimination, violence against women have actually issued respective reports on climate change. And what I said was that this special rapporteur will really be in the position not only to synthesize all our analysis on the different effects of climate change, but also to collectively put that analysis in terms of how they can be strategically implemented by the international community. So it will be very important that it will be very important that we actually give our support to the new special rapporteur on the climate change because his position, the issue that he will be taking up is quite important in the crisis that we are right now facing. So I gratefully welcome the complimentary perspectives that the panelists bring here today with the underlying experience, synthesize, and set out in the recent pieces inside this. Thank you very much again for having me. Thank you, Valérie, good luck with your new position. And I look forward to continuing the work with you and as well with everybody else in the UNHCR report and the GPC. Over to you. Thank you so much Cecilia. As always, your remarks are so inspiring, comprehensive and to the point, and of course your report that you presented to the General Assembly in 2020 on the slow onset of adverse effects of climate change is really a reference point for many of us. And it's important that colleagues also, if you have not seen it, get familiarized with it and Kim has posted it in the chat, the link, because now we also need to see in terms of follow up to the recommendations coming from the special reporters report and we have all a role to play in their implementation. So I draw your attention to it. And thank you also Cecilia for making the link with the mandate of the new special reporter on climate change. I have pasted in the chat also the link to the resolution that Cecilia mentioned and the key functions of the mandate so that you have it under your eyes if useful. But just for your information, we are also planning a webinar hopefully in June with the special reporter on climate change. But thank you so much Cecilia for framing our event, giving us really now the space to enter into the discussion. Thank you for all the work you are doing through your mandate in that regard. And thank you also for joining us from Philippines for today's event. So we will now open the panel and I would like to give the floor first to Isabel, Isabel Michel, who will present us the fact sheet that has been then jointly with OHHR as mentioned and also give some hints on the legal framework of the central relevant resources. So please, Isabel, over to you. Thank you very much. Hi everybody. My name is Isabel Michel and I'm working in the division of international protection of UNHCR focusing exclusively on legal and normative aspects for the protection of people displaced in the context of climate change and disasters. I will certainly not give new informational insights following the CCGAs intervention. Thanks a lot, Cecilia. I think you really summarized well of the picture of the topic and I will echo what you said and emphasize some specific aspects. It was not easy to develop a fact sheet in only a few pages on such a broad topic where everything's interrelated and we're really talking about how to handle complexity. The fact sheet is aimed to give you a very short and brief overview of the impacts of climate change on the human rights of people, emphasizing that indeed it may hinder the enjoyment of a range of human rights, including as Cecilia mentioned, the right to water, to adequate housing, to cultural rights, to food, et cetera and impacting also on the risk of displacement of people in many contexts, but also it impacts the rights on people who are already displaced in many situations and we see in the operations we're working on how heavy the impacts of climate change is in the way we're operating and adding also to already complex situations including in relation to conflict or violence. Of course, most of the people who are displaced in the context of climate change and disasters are internally displaced, remaining within their countries where IDP-related frameworks are applicable, but also some people may be forced to flee their homes and cross borders. In 2020, UNHCRs issued legal considerations regarding claims for international protection made in the context of the impacts of climate change and disasters. I don't know if you're familiar with this document, but I will put a link in the chat box so that you can have easy access to it. Basically, it reminds that even though there's no specific mention to climate change or disasters in the 1951 Refugee Convention, climate change having an impact amplifying existing vulnerabilities of fragilities, both of individuals, but also of societies. The 1951 convention may be relevant for people who are displaced in those contexts. We are never talking of a standalone criteria relating to climate change or disasters, but rather it has impacts on the overall protection environment of people with whom we're working and who may be in need of protection in those contexts. So the refugee instruments may be relevant and applicable in those contexts. Of course, the regional refugee instruments, such as the way you convention and the Cartagena Declaration may also be relevant as they both include an extended refugee criteria which relates to events seriously disturbing public order. So there's no internationally agreed definition of what public order is, but there is a lot of research ongoing on how to analyze the impacts of climate change on public order in specific countries and situations and how to interpret that specific criteria in relation to people displaced in the context of climate change and disasters and how to apply those elements. So really watch this pace. We'll certainly circulate more information, but we are really engaging on long-term efforts towards developing indicators, proxies and elements to interpret that criteria. Of course, when not all people will be eligible to refugee status when they cross borders in that context and complementary forms of protection are certainly relevant and crucial based on the principle of non-refoulement. And in January 2020, we remember there was a milestone decision by the Human Rights Committee on the case of Tethiota from Kiribati, who's at asylum in New Zealand in the context of sea level rise that affects particularly small island countries. And the Human Rights Committee in its decision reminded that people should not be returned in countries where their life would be at real risk of irreparable harm. And also reminded the collective responsibilities of countries and the international community to work together to prevent displacement from occurring and to mitigate the impacts of climate change altogether. So once again, we're talking about the complex situation where all elements are interrelated and are all different sides of the same issue. And temporary forms of protection and stay arrangements may also be practical ways of providing protection to people in need where no other forms of protection would be immediately available to respond to immediate protection needs. The fact sheet provides a few quick recommendations on how to protect human rights of person displaced in the context of climate change. They are certainly not exhaustive, but might provide you with hooks to disseminate key messages on this. We know that advocacy awareness raising on human rights in this context are really an element of engagement of all partners in the field. So these are a few example of key messages that you might want to raise and build on, but certainly we are all working together and partnering in many operations of the world. So happy to build on that and work together in joint messages depending on the events where we are all working and get engaging in. And the fact sheet in the last part gives a few examples of good practices where UNHCR and OHCHR worked on addressing human rights related issues in the context of climate change and disasters. What I would like to raise once again is that all these aspects and components are interrelated. We see that as Cecilia mentioned, it's a continuum of mobility and we need to address all needs wherever they are, but they all fit into each other. Internal displacement, migration as a way of preventing displacement, displacement across borders are really, they are strong interlinkages between those elements as they are on the different components on disaster risk reduction, human rights engagement, how to address these issues, innovation, finance, really in this area as in many other, but maybe even more than in others, it's about a collective effort and responsibility to avert, minimize and address displacement in this context and related protection needs. In 2018, UNHCR is issued in the frame of the task force on displacement of the virtual international mechanism under the UNF Framework Convention on Climate Change, a mapping of existing international and regional guidance and instruments to avert, minimize and address displacement and to find durable solutions to displacement in the context of climate change and disasters. It is a very comprehensive list of existing instruments in all these aspects. So it might be also a very good reference documents to tap in also in the frame of your work in cooperation with governments or other actors. Don't hesitate to refer to that. I will also put a link in the chat box in case it is useful. My last point is about our corporation also and work in a complementary manner in headquarters, in the back offices and in the field between you and myself and us at headquarters. Policy discussions and elements and field experience and issues really work together and fit into each other. So we never hesitate to contact us and to ask if you need guidance, if you need insights to structure your thinking, to complement, to check that the key messages are audible with your counterparts. But also please share with us good practices protection issues, evidence, links that you see between all different aspects. We will use them. There are many policy discussions everywhere and we need to know what's happening in the field to ensure that we, the policy guidance and strategies actually reflect the actual protection needs and operational constraints also that you are encountering in the field. I think I will leave it here, but thanks a lot for your attention and remaining at your disposal in case you have questions. Thanks. Thank you so much, Isabel, for this overview for first introducing us to the fact sheet and colleagues out there. With the different recommendations, Isabel was mentioning and the framework so that you can refer to it, but also for the information that you have outlined to us about the existing initiatives and the mapping and the ongoing work and research. And I'm sure, Isabel, colleagues would have quite a lot of questions. I see already some coming in the chat from the chat. So thank you very much. Thank you. I have a lot of questions. I see already some coming in the chat from Leonor that we will come back to in the discussions part of this webinar. But it would be super useful, Isabel, if you could please share the resources in the chat. And thank you also for, you know, making the link between the displacement continuum, the vulnerability that the climate change may bring and exacerbate the situation of displaced persons and also still keeping an eye on the fact that the situation of internally displaced persons and persons who had to flee their country may have different implications, as we all know, but it's always good to get reminded and also, as you will see in the fact sheet, there are no grounds for climate refugees as a term, but Isabel can provide more details as needed in the discussion part. Very good. Thank you so much for framing it for us, Isabel. And I would now like to invite Alice from OITCHR, please, Alice, to share with us some concrete examples about how OITCHR actually works on this issue practically, specifically in Sahel region. And I see colleagues, we have a lot of participants from Sahel countries, so it speaks a lot to colleagues online. And Alice, please, if you would like to share with us the examples. Over to you. Yes, thank you so much, Maleri, for, first of all, inviting OITCHR to develop this joint fact sheet. And I really hope this will be a useful tool for the future of the climate change in the region, as it speaks in the field and at headquarters. And thank you very much for inviting me today. So I joined the migration and climate change and environment team at OITCHR in March this year as the project coordinator to implement the project in the Sahel, which is focusing on climate change related migration to better understand the human rights, climate change and migration nexus through community engagement in Nigeria, Niger and Mauritania. I will speak about the project findings briefly later on, but I would also like to indicate a few points that are very pertinent in the discharge of the project activities and that also highlights the findings and recommendations from the fact sheet. As pointed out in the fact sheet and as also mentioned by the special operator previously, climate change is having clear, direct and indirect impacts on the effective enjoyment of a wide range of human rights. So these rights that are concerned are the rights to health, water and sanitation, food, housing, self-determination, right to development, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and even the right to life itself. I think as practitioners and we've all been to the field we all recognize that interactions between climate change and migration are very complex. While migration allows people to move away from potentially harmful situation and adaptation strategy, the adverse effects of climate change are also compelling some people to migrate and this may not necessarily be a free choice. What we can observe, including from documentation in the project, is that climate change can create or exacerbate situations of vulnerabilities. These, but also other factors such as social economic, demographic and political context affect the ability of people to respond and to enjoy their human rights. This leads some people to move internally. As we have seen in previous examples, most of people are displaced internally, others also cross borders and some are actually unable to move away from affected areas. UNHCR and OHCHR in the fact sheet recommend that climate action is people-centered and that it adopts a human rights-based approach, which means that the safety, dignity and the rights of those that are displaced in the context of climate change are respected. For instance, implementing human rights obligations to address the needs and vulnerabilities of those adversely affected by climate change-related events means that access to water and sanitation, access to health, to food, to self-determination and housing is guaranteed. States should further ensure that all persons have the capacity and means to adapt. Such measures can contribute to the reduction of vulnerabilities and risks and reduce the likelihood of migration to those who actually do not wish to move. People-centered climate action further means that proactive measures are taken to address and integrate rights into planning before harms occur, because what we can see is that a human rights-based approach to migration as adaptation could allow for better access to rights when people move and after. For instance, if we already foresee movement, we can ensure access to labour markets that they are guaranteed. This also means to facilitate migration as a choice rather than a necessity, and we can meet this demand by enhancing safe and regular pathways for migration. And facilitation in very extreme cases may entail planned relocation, which should always occur through the involvement of communities whereby they write to information and participation are guaranteed. States are also in the context of migration applied to assess the situation of those seeking to enter or remain on an individual basis. This assessment must determine whether a person can be returned and if and how they are entitled to human rights protections due to particular vulnerabilities. In the context of climate change, this translates as extending protection to those who do not qualify as refugees, but whose removal would be contrary to obligations under international human rights law, including, but of course not limited to the principle of non-reformal. And as mentioned in my gallery and in my introduction, OHCHR is involved in implementing projects in different parts of the world, seeking to better understand the climate change, human rights and migration nexus and to identify and address potential protection gaps. So in the Sahel and through the engagement with communities in Nigeria, and Mauritania, we are implementing a dedicated project to build capacities for right-based and gender-responsive approaches. The project is very much focused on community engagement and empowerment, but also capacity building and it seeks to identify protection gaps in the context of migration and adaptation and mitigation measures to bridge these protection gaps. So as part of this project there has been a report that was published in December last year, which presents already some of the findings. So one example is mentioned in the fact sheet, such as an example from Niger which allows to recognize the challenges related to climate change are best addressed through the involvement of concerned communities. And also what we have seen from the project is, for instance, the involvement of women in adaptation measures guarantees better results and more long-term solutions. There are a lot of other examples and I'm very happy to see so many colleagues from the countries where we implement projects are present, but of course also many others who also deal with climate change related to migration, and I'm very happy to hear from your respective context and answer of course any questions that you may have. Thank you very much again. Thank you so much Alice. This is very interesting and useful and you have actually, I believe already responded to Leonor's question in the chat, but we may go more into detail during the discussion part. I have also posted the link to the report that Alice mentioned, but what I found particularly interesting Alice is how you interconnected the different forms of displacement because of course HCHR is looking at human rights of all persons. Your mandate is very broad and then you encompass it under migration, but we know that people in different situations face different challenges and it's all interconnected as both Isabel and the special rapporteur were mentioning before so adding to their already vulnerable situations and we need to pay particular attention also to mitigation managers and it links to our exchange with colleagues in Mozambique just before we started this event with Gwen and Hugo when they were sharing that they are basically constantly preparing and running against the wheel, trying to get ready for the impact of climate change related event on displaced persons. Of course, thank you for sharing the example from Sahel, the three countries, but it impacts most countries where we work. So thank you so much Alice and I would like to give the floor to Nancy from the Global Protection Cluster who will share with us some key elements about the GPC guidance that was recently issued and Roberta will put up few slides on the screen. Nancy you are joining us from your mission in Yemen. Thank you so much. The connection seems good so please go ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Valerie and thanks so much for the invitation to speak about our GPC guidance. I hope everyone can hear me well. Great. Thank you. So let me just begin by saying that I think this initiative is excellent. The issue of climate change and displacement has been something that has been being seen two years ago and we've been asked by our colleagues at the field level to share over the years any guidance, any advice that you could share with them on how to approach both siting and slow on natural hazards and disasters. So next slide please. So last year we brought in the consultant. We felt that we needed to really help focus the kind of guidance that we needed because you know at the field protection cluster there are many challenges in our coordinator space both in terms of conflict and climate change has also been an issue that has been raised on many occasions and we began to ask on how to address that. So last year we brought in a consultant for the GPC and he and I worked closely with our colleagues in the field to organize a series of consultations as you see with the Americans, with the Africa operations, with Asian Pacific and the men origin and during the discussions we actually wanted to provide the guidance in a way that would be practical and usable and helpful for our cluster. So as you can see, we held discussions not only with our clusters but with experts in the field. I see a lot of colleagues online that we consulted from our INGO partners, the National Energy Council, the Norwegian Energy Council to LHCHR, so colleagues from NSF, and our cluster of colleagues really benefited as well from our discussions with our consultant about what they would like to see about practical guidance. So whenever we have the GPC produce guidance we always wanted to see how in the GPC and the protection clusters as protection actors, how we are working with our partners on the ground to be able to not only collaborate with our synergies but also how do we approach the issue of climate change. It's not something that is always regularly understandable by all actors. You don't necessarily have to be an expert, it's what we've kind of expressed to our teams on the field and so with that they wanted to be able to use simple, clear language. What does it mean when you talk about natural disasters? What does it mean when you talk about slow onset or sudden onset? And the importance of obviously the centrality of protection, the accountability to those facts and populations. So we wanted to ensure that the terminology of climate change is there as well as the terminology on protection, on issues of issues of protection so that would be understandable for all the protections to be working with. So obviously in the different operations that we work with from the Pacific to obviously the colleagues that raised about the Sahalo to the Americas, it's all about context analysis. So we always emphasize to them that we can of course share the guidance but there are challenges that we face that obviously on protection and preparedness that we would like to emphasize to also ensure that they're able to respond effectively to our displaced persons. So here we received a lot of feedback from our coordinators as we've seen on to use common language to use clear definitions. Obviously we raised with our partners on the platform of disaster displacement, colleagues that work for NRC, experts that have shared their inputs with us, UNH chair colleagues from the climate action group as well as UNH chair. So it's been really helpful to work closely with our colleagues from the different agencies to develop this guidance. And one of the other areas for us in the GCCs to look at it as well as mobile NGOs, looking at our partners that have been there that are the first responders. So we felt that it was also important to show how we collaborate with them from the cluster to ensure that we are prepared for the assignment and it's still possible. So what you'll see in our guidance and I hope that the colleagues can share and I know that Valerie and the team have shared in the concept that it's a mix of both electronic formats and the checklist. So what we have is the guidance itself with about 20 pages and we have an accompanying toolkit. So what we learned over the course of the last several months is our consultant work closely with the different experts and partners to develop this guidance in a matter of five months is to make sure that we would be able to roll this guidance to the field. And it's been really helpful to see how our coordinators can get back to what they would like to see how we want to be able to use this through different checklist, through different materials and with use of the masks. So it's not that we're creating something new but we're also referencing a lot of the materials that are out there from words into action. Partners do make sure that there is a guidance that they have also in order to see preparedness guidance in the flag change. And I think that one of the key parts and I think here to talk about that a bit more we use as well good examples, good practices through the field. And in the guidance we flag next slide please. We just here just to see like the format. Here we talk about the terminologies and it's sort of straightforward. We are able to use this so that when our coordinators are working with whether the local governments or our little engineers that we're able to work in the same language and in the same terminology as protection and actors. So we also if you move to the next slide please I wanted to highlight a bit of the good practices that we've seen and I think it's really important as cluster coordinators to share across even regions to share across different situations and what we've seen and what we highlighted in our guidance is for instance in the Pacific Islands. They've been at the forefront obviously with a lot of the challenges on climate change and the experience they had developed planning relocation guidelines by the feeding government that have been published and they have worked closely with the local communities that have been affected and developed this with their local partners. So for us that showed in demonstrating some examples that we were able to also share with other clusters in the field and for instance in the Philippines a technical working group which we do with other humanitarian organizations and stakeholders and working with local and national governments to look at how we can do a proper protection analysis and input that into a local and national strategy in the Indian Outreach. So that was another practice that we also highlighted in the eastern part of Africa that we see in the cluster for Somalia they have done the in-depth protection analysis which also helped them to address and to highlight the multiple protection risks due to displacement as well as to the drought situation and how they were able to respond to some of the unlawful evictions that were happening as a result of these two challenges for them. So I think that's the next slide please. I think that was some of the key areas for us to look at the series of the practices, some of the lessons learned we've seen from different clusters and how that can enhance the work that we're doing practically from the Indian Sea. So as Valerie mentioned, we launched the guidance in the 24th of March. We did a soft rollout in Zimbabwe and I introduced the guidance and cluster members during this session where you can see how it was on commission and we are in the process of rolling it out in board operations and hope to get more feedback from other clusters and we'll continue from this where into the next in 2020. So thanks and thank you for your time. Thank you so much Nancy and colleagues for those who are not yet familiar with this tool. It's really very practical with a lot of examples easy to find information and so we strongly encourage you to browse through it if you are interested to get some inspiration and again as previously mentioned don't hesitate to reach out to colleagues if you would like to discuss bilaterally also the situation in your respective cluster or operation so that we can see how to better support. So thank you so much Nancy colleagues the link to the toolkit is or to guidance is in the chat. I see that we have some questions coming in that's fantastic. I do encourage you to use the chat if you would like to hear more from our panelists about some aspects of the work they do the resources they mentioned or to discuss broader this topic and also how it relates to the situation of displacement. We also saw comment from Sumbul from UNHCR drawing our attention to the upcoming SGS Action Agenda on Interim Displacement which also applies to situations of people displaced by climate change so it's a very important momentum and also along with the SGS call to action for human rights which is very important for us and we hope really creates space for you at country level also to discuss those issues more broadly at HCT level UNCT level with also agencies entities that may not have directly protection mandates such as UNHCR or HCHR but get the momentum to advance collectively on some of those topics those are really two important initiatives that are upcoming as well as the Agenda for Protection System White Agenda for Protection which will be launched this year. Thank you so much Hugo also thank you for sharing the link to the wonderful report you have done in Mozambique on the cyclone impact on the protection environment it's very interesting well done for this one good practice example and maybe you can share more details in the discussion but as we collect the questions I would like to invite Meron from OHCHR also to very briefly describe what tool is going to be launched actually next week what is coming your way as an appetizer for all of you so over to you please Meron. Hello everyone my name is Meron I work in UNHCR's IDP section as an Associate Protection Officer and I just want to say a few words about the guidance on IDP protection in the context of disasters and climate change that UNHCR developed last year as you are aware and as mentioned during earlier presentations the majority of displacement in the context of disasters and climate change occurs internally over 30 million people were displaced due to disasters in 2020 alone according to the internal displacement monitoring centre and people displaced due to disasters experience various protection risks so the development of this guidance that is much needed to ensure that protection is central to humanitarian response in disaster situations the guidance covers a range of issues including the role of protection actors in preparedness this is very important as science and community based early warning systems allow us to anticipate the occurrence of certain disasters enabling us to take measures early on to reduce human suffering the guidance also covers the role of protection actors in disaster response more importantly it emphasizes the importance of ensuring a human rights based approach which again is critical because it's often an overlooked area in disaster response despite the fact that affected populations including IDPs face many human rights challenges the guidance is primarily developed for UNHCR staff but it contains useful information relevant for other protection actors I'll put the link to the guidance in the chat box and thanks for your time over to you battery thank you so much Mero and very useful so colleagues I think the situation has evolved when we you know I remember a few years ago they were very little resources on this topic and you know the research was starting there were some discussions in the human rights forum but now we see really a lot of very practical tools and you can go as deep as you want but you have some frameworks that are existing to support you good practices example so it has evolved quite a lot since the last few years and we hope that all those documents will be very useful for you thanks Mero and also for sharing the link in the chat excellent so I would propose that we open up now for a discussion for an exchange and I will go back to the panelists and colleagues please take the questions as you feel irrelevant and compliment each other we have received an interesting question from from Shaista in Pakistan I would like to know more if you can already share some good practices or lessons learned on how to strengthen the humanitarian development nexus on climate change so including what it entails in terms of coordination collaboration funding risk assessment so covering communication mitigation and response so if you can tackle the aspect of the humanitarian development nexus you have some aspects from the climate change angle if this has already been done and some good practices or lessons learned are existing I'm sure Shaista your question of course coming from Pakistan operation could be relevant to any country so this is very relevant I would also go back to to the question by Lonora on what has been the role of the affected population in in linking clearly the climate change and the situation of displaced persons and enjoyment of their human rights how they have been involved what good practices or examples you could share especially Alice if you could go a little bit more into detail maybe or in the guy that Nancy presented us there are also some examples but it would be interesting to hear more we also had a question from Sophie and it's in relation to your presentation and Sophie pointed out that it would be interesting to hear how the principle of no reform is used in the context of climate climate change and climate related disasters so if you could tackle that in the scope which is possible and Hugo thank you for sharing further resources in the chat I would propose that we go back to the panelist with those initial three questions and we take it from there as you would like to take them colleagues okay Isabel would you like to start and Alice and Nancy yes over to you Sure thanks a lot and thanks Sophie for your question I think that's a very good question and that's also related to what Valérie was highlighting earlier on the question of climate refugees because it touches a bit the same issue to my view when you're asking about how would you respond non-reformant to those displaced in relation to climate change and disasters it's actually not about extending obligations or rights or creating new instruments it's really about understanding how existing instruments and existing rights actually apply in new challenges that emerge in the context of climate change and disasters referring to the case of Titiota and the decision from the Human Rights Committee really the committee recognized that in the context of civil rights and of the impacts of climate change on the level of sea the impacts of climate change could really threaten the right to life of people and could also be seen as a human or degrading treatment of punishment in this specific context the existing rights and instruments might be applicable and trigger obligation under international law it is the same for the application of refugee instruments or any other instrument it's not about recognizing a new category of persons such as for instance when we talk about climate refugees it's about interpreting how the existing legal normative instruments can be applicable and relevant to these new and contemporary challenges this is a bit what was done for instance in the past on gender related issues there was no creation of new category of persons of gender refugees or whatever but it was recognized that in the context of gender some specific protection issues and concerns might be raised and needed to be acknowledged to interpret properly the existing instruments I don't know if it replies to your question I hope it clarifies to reply to the question or say a quick word on the humanitarian development nexus indeed when we talk about displacement and preventing displacement the whole resilience building dimension is really relevant and working in cooperation with development partners, with governments and other partners private sector finance partners is really key to ensure that communities are resilient are prepared and the societies have better coping strategies in case of natural hazards to prevent disasters from occurring prevent displacement this is really all the human mobility discussions we are having to strengthen the overall response and situations in countries over, thanks thank you so much Isabel this is very useful I see that it responded to Sophie's question so that's very good thank you thank you thank you so much Valery and thanks for the very elaborate answer of Isabel to this question I guess it's very much also a legal question as a lawyer I get excited about legal questions I'm sorry about that actually to a decision that was done by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child last October 2021 when in a historic ruling the committee said that the harmful effects of climate change on children's rights can actually lead to a state being held responsible for the negative impact of carbon emissions on the rights of children both within and outside its territory it did not rule so much on its protective responsibilities for children but we can actually use this for any derivative protection advocacy because it's first such ruling by an international body after examining a petition filed by 16 children and it found that emitting states are actually responsible for this negative impact of the emissions even though those children may be located abroad so this means that states may be held accountable for that as I said it does not really bear any direct accountability yet with regard to movement, migration or acceptable displacement however I think the implications of that ruling can be derived in terms of what protection the children may have so there's a lot of discussion right now among the legal circles on what this actually means and in my view there is an implication on migration and displacement on this but anyway it's just to share with you that ruling and my excitement because of that ruling so thanks very much Valery Thank you so much Cecilia for sharing the information about this ruling and also expanding more on Isabel's intervention and we will be also sharing after this webinar a summary of the resources and also the ruling that Cecilia mentioned so that you can go more into depth in it but very fascinating topic thank you so much Cecilia Nancy over to you and then Alice thank you Thanks Valery so I just had a quick comment related to the question on the humanitarian peace development so it is true that we do devote a lot of time on this in the guidance and we do present examples because I know that Isabel also mentioned the issue of resilience and in ours obviously we're looking as well in terms of IDPs looking as well as enhancing the prospects for solutions so we gave two examples that we had heard about through our discussions and consultations that were being considered as very vulnerable to the elderly and persons with disabilities most of those who have been severely impacted by this cycle like we said back in 2018 so the government had looked into this and decided to use the existing social protection mechanisms as part of the emergency response and they targeted elderly and elderly and the people with disabilities that were affected by this response was to look into cash and voucher assistance and other social welfare mechanisms so in that respect I thought maybe not applicable to the colleague who's in Pakistan but perhaps other examples that will share my guidance might be useful to him so over to you next Valery Thank you so much Nancy for providing those elements and very important I see that we have also a few comments and further questions coming in the chat I will take the second round but first give the floor to Alice and thank you also Kim for posting the link to the CRC link in the chat I think also Nancy that you have provided a lot of answers for her questions so this has been very useful thank you so much again Nancy and over to you Alice Thank you very much also thank you for the question which evolves around the recommendation to adopt the human rights based approach to displaced persons and the question actually asks us to speak more about how to engage the voices of displaced persons so I guess what this recommendation entails is to actually always come from a rights based approach where the rights of persons are the most important and what I mentioned before is that this entails that states create a situation which allow or other stakeholders as well to allow to ensure that persons have the capacity and the means to adapt to climate change so that they're not, that migration is not a necessity but that it can actually be a choice and also states can actually take action before harm occurs by better preparing if things are clear such as in slow onset events in rising sea level or other climate change effects one can better prepare and I think the special reporter mentioned also in her introductory remarks the situation of indigenous peoples maybe she can add more on this later on but there's also collective rights to self determination and we know about the attachment of indigenous peoples to land so if a real location is the only solution it's very important to actually place these people at the centre and their right to information their right to participation and self determination so this would be a very important situation of where a human rights based approach is really needed from the project in the Sahel there's maybe one really good example which is the one also mentioned in the fact sheet in Niger so we really exchange on a regular basis with communities to listen to their concerns and needs and human rights violations or protection gaps we try to match these or to inform authorities about the concerns to make sure there's better protection from the state side on these rights for instance in Niger there was a community led tree planting initiative which improved livelihood opportunities but also drought resilience and reduced food insecurities and in this project there was also an incentive to actually provide accommodation for the movement of pastoralists which is often times the source of conflict and ethnic tensions in the region so this is a I would say best practice but then we've also observed other situations for instance where the Green Climate Fund in the Sahel focused very much on the promotion of sustainable agricultural methods but people in rural communities actually wanted to focus more rather than continuing to focus on agriculture which is very prone to be affected by climate change events what their needs were to actually include non-farming opportunities so that they can have various sources of income and sustain their livelihoods maybe others have additional information or want to add anything and I hope I've answered the question or given a better idea of what we need. Thank you. Thank you so much Alice and I find it very interesting what you just mentioned the new opportunities in the non-farming and actually exploring this aspect as well you mentioned other good practices tree planting and links to the livelihood opportunities thank you and colleagues I refer you back to the fact sheet to also look at the other practices and the GPC guidance where you can already find some inspiration but it's interesting to hear from the field and I would maybe go to the second round of questions if we have few minutes dear panelists if you can shed some light and especially to questions one by Jean-Nicolas from Iraq and who is asking about how can we actually ascertain the responsibilities of a specific state or public institutions given that the public official or the person acting in an official capacity is an element of the legal obligation when the responsibilities for climate change cannot be necessarily linked to one single state unless we speak about an island of course as we have seen in the past so very interesting one it would be great to hear some insight on that and also very practical point from Hugo which is coming from Mozambique but I'm sure other colleagues especially clusters would also maybe share similar challenge to the difficulties when we are submitting projects to CERF and other humanitarian actors and the lack of acknowledgement that protection activities are an important aspect when dealing with climate change impacts in situations of displacement and Hugo is asking whether actually there are already efforts at global level especially with donors in stressing this link and the importance of investments into those areas as we discussed to build the resilience of people and to work in prevention as well mitigations etc. Noting that so far most of the work is actually done by the local civil society members NGOs which is very good empowering local actors but in relation to the financial sources and the importance of taking the knowledge that it's beyond water pipes it's beyond the protection aspect is key it seems to be still lacking there so I would go back to you with those questions and dear panelists if you have some quick points or highlights to share with us before we close this event if you can please raise your hand if you would like to take the floor Isabel please get us started Thanks a lot and thanks a lot Jean-Nicola for your questions regarding in human or degrading treatment and the responsibilities of specific state or public institutions I share Cecilia's excitement when I hear about new cases and really I really go through the analysis and the legal arguments because we see that litigation in cases are increasing and they are really interesting insights that are being brought to the climate dimension I would like to share with you a case that I've read that's a case from two years ago I think it's a case that took place in Germany from the Baden-Württemberg court in December 2020 it was about a man from Afghanistan an adult who was to be deported and the decision was on whether to deport him back to Afghanistan and the court recalls that in very exceptional individual cases bad humanitarian conditions can constitute treatment within the meaning of the article 3 of the European Court on Human Rights on the prohibition of torture on human degrading punishment or treatment representing non-state dangers due to precarious living conditions and in its assessment of the humanitarian situation the court recognized the need to conduct a multifactorial analysis including not only for instance general economic situation or link to the behavior of specific actors but also assess the level of supply of food living space, healthcare and environmental conditions such as climate and disasters as well as the security situation so the climate element was not central to that decision and it was decided not to return that man to Afghanistan but indeed it recognized that the overall living condition of the persons including in relation to environmental conditions had to be taken into account I'm very happy to put a link to that decision in the chat box if it's of interest to you I would also like to highlight in case you find it interesting that tomorrow at 6 o'clock Geneva time there's a webinar on disaster related displacement into Europe an analysis of judicial practice in Austria and it's a study that has been conducted over the last two years and it finds out that subsidiary protection has been granted to people in Austria in particular in relation to climate change related elements so I really look forward to that webinar which is tomorrow at 6 o'clock Geneva time I will also put a link to that maybe one last point that I wanted to raise the NGO consultations that will take place in June next month have a theme on climate action this year we are working with ICVA and NGO partners in developing them there will be two subsections one on operational elements and one on law and policy both will be held on the 9th of June you are very welcome if you want to go deeper into these discussions and share practices thanks excellent thank you so much Isabel of course as Cecilia pointed out this case happened before we will take over in Afghanistan and well noted also Jean-Nicolas' comment it's linked to Linetz and Chaista feedback also on the holding the government's accountability and responsibilities if there is really an interest I think the Tassim could go a little bit deeper in those discussions there could be a dedicated discussion in the future or see how to discuss more in detail this could be one of the action points I'm wondering Nancy if in one minute you would like to come back on Hugo's question related to SERV but more specifically the efforts being done at global level with donors to ensure that protection is more taken into account into the fundraising or financial opportunities in humanitarian displacement settings over to you thanks Malorie actually didn't want to answer that question because we haven't yet really raised that and I think it's a very important point from Hugo I'm at the mess actually looking at the SERV but on food insecurity at the moment but we just had a two hour discussion on flood preparedness yesterday with the government in Yemen so yeah I think it's really important to ask so yeah I will definitely follow that up when I'm back in Geneva but well what did Hugo and it's a really important issue for all of us in the cluster so over to you Valarie thank you so much Nancy and colleagues you see this is why those peer exchange webinars are also important because it pushes us more at the global level to do efforts conduct efforts that support you and give you more I would say positive conditions to then do also the advocacy at country level so thank you so much I'm afraid we are coming to the end of our exchange for today but of course this is an initial exchange we have had together in the space of the human rights engagement and task team this will continue as already foreshadowed we are planning to have a dedicated webinar with a special reporter on climate change in June so you can look forward to it and I would like to thank all the panelists that were able to join us today of course Cecilia the special reporter and immense pleasure Cecilia to work with you if I can also say this personal word to you because you have been supporting us on many fronts from your office and through your mandate in different initiatives through your country missions your thematic reports, consultations, advocacy messages the list would be long but you are really key for our work so thank you for supporting us also today in this exchange and colleagues that our dear panelists from UNHCR, GPC, OHCHR I think it shows that this topic is really to be tackled in a holistic manner not only by of course one agency entity but more collectively in joint efforts also between humanitarian development actors looking at the root causes and maybe having also a longer term plan besides addressing the emergency situation so thank you so much for sharing the insight with us and I think we have some follow-ups to do on our side I will close this event but also let me mention that this is from my side the last webinar that I will I'm doing on behalf of the human rights engagement team as I'm moving to a new role in Iraq joining Jean-Nicolas so the monthly webinars will of course continue Roberta will hold the fort before my replacement comes on board so thank you so much Roberta colleagues who will be receiving invitations from her for the upcoming events the next one being on 18th of May during the humanitarian networks and partnerships week so very interesting one on collaboration with regional human rights mechanisms with focus on Africa and there will be much more to come so from my side thank you so much for all those exchanges throughout the last two years and I look forward to hearing from the task team how things are going and being in touch in one way or another so thanks so much and have a good rest of the day bye thank you