NHRIs around the world increasingly take note of and act upon human rights violations caused by climate change and natural disasters. The impact of climate change on women and girls living in rural areas has become a priority theme for several NHRIs, such as the Algerian NHRI, which organized roundtable discussions with women’s rights organizations in order to examine CEDAW Committee’s Draft General Recommendation No. 37 on the Gender-related dimensions of Disaster Risk Reduction in a Changing Climate, during which the focus was on women and girls living in rural areas. In 2018, another discussion will be held with participation from government sectors and other organizations. The NHRI of Bangladesh even established a thematic committee on Climate Change and Environmental Rights and undertakes field visits and missions to areas affected by climate change, natural disasters or environmental pollution or degradation. Extractive activities are under the scrutiny of the Sub-commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights within the Congolese NHRI, which initiated a project aimed at raising awareness amongst companies about the impact of mining and deforestation on the rural environment. The French NHRI also studied the impact of extractive activities on the right to a healthy environment in the French overseas territories. In this context, it was found that women and girls in rural areas were particularly affected by the environmental damage caused by these activities. The NHRI of Zimbabwe has conducted investigations on the pollution of water meant for household consumption due to mining in two rural areas. Artisanal gold mining also proves to be problematic because the use of mercury in the purification of gold and other minerals has a negative effect on women’s reproductive health. The right to water is also of concern to the NHRI of Sri Lanka, which made numerous interventions when the Uma Oya Hydro Power Project led to depletion of underground water in the rural Uva Province, resulting in a severe drought, which adversely impacted women in particular. Finally, with respect to natural disasters, NHRIS reported the following activities: - - 5. In 2017, the Portuguese countryside was devastated by intense forest fires. The Portuguese NHRI currently deals with complaints related to the effects of these fires, for example from an elderly woman living in a rural isolated area, who complains of being unable to use telephone communications due to the damage the fire caused to the telecommunication infrastructure. The NHRI of Nepal monitored the human rights situation after the 2015 earthquake and made recommendations to the governement concerning the provision of protective measures against sexual exploitation, trafficking and displacement of women and girls in the affected rural areas. It also monitors the effect of climate change on agriculture, and specifically on women farmers. CONCLUSION The case studies and short examples mentioned in this report demonstrate diversity – the diversity of contexts in which women and girls living in rural areas find themselves, but also the diversity of actions taken by NHRIs in order to address the barriers created by rurality. It has become clear that NHRIs, through their monitoring and complaints handling functions, play a vital role in identifying the problems that women and girls in rural areas face and in understanding them as human rights issues. If women and girls in rural areas continue to be left behind, this is not only a failure to deliver on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, but a form of discrimination and a violation of the provisions of CEDAW and other applicable human rights treaties that a state has ratified. The case studies and short examples contained in this report also show that the advisory function of NHRIs, in particular vis-à-vis their national parliaments and governments, can and have been successfully employed to help states live up to their obligations to realize the human rights of all women and girls living in rural areas. Finally, the awareness-raising and human rights education initiatives of NHRIs, including by supporting women and girls in rural areas to enforce their rights through judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, contributes to empowering women and girls in rural areas and to help them participate 14