CEDAW has often noted that climate change and natural disasters disproportionately impact women. Since 2009, CEDAW has worked to “ensure that climate change and disaster risk reduction measures are gender responsive, sensitive to indigenous knowledge systems and respect human rights.”... The General Recommendation brings these obligations together in one place to provide guidance to all 189 parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Convention). This General Recommendation will be the first document adopted by a human rights treaty body that directly and authoritatively interprets how States must integrate international human rights obligations into climate action... The General Recommendation focuses on three key principles: (1) equality and non-discrimination; (2) participation and empowerment; and (3) accountability. 

... The General Recommendation also acknowledges that climate action affects other women’s rights, including the rights of children (girls), women in indigenous populations, women in poverty, women with disabilities, and older women. The General Recommendation addresses several areas of concern where women are especially at risk due to the impacts of climate change, including the right to an adequate standard of living (including food, water, and sanitation), the rights to education and information, gender-based violence against women (particularly in the wake of climate change disaster responsiveness), and migration and forced displacement due to climate change.