Following a call for input and a virtual consultation to inform the 2025 reports of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, Manushya Foundation submitted a report “Gender Inequality in Climate Action and Development: Examples from Thailand and Laos”. The report aims to inform the Special Rapporteur’s thematic report on “Nexus between Gender Equality and the Right to Development” which will be presented to the Human Rights Council and to the UN General Assembly.

 

Our report highlights the critical link between gender equality and development, emphasizing the urgent need for gender-transformative approaches rooted in climate justice, Indigenous rights, and legal accountability. Drawing on the lived experiences of women in Thailand and Laos, particularly Indigenous, rural, and ethnic minority women, the submission exposes how exclusionary climate policies, land dispossession, and weak legal protections deepen inequality and undermine sustainable development. Our recommendations place the voices and needs of Indigenous communities and women from Thailand and Laos at the forefront of climate and development solutions, ensuring that their rights, leadership, and traditional knowledge are central to building a just and sustainable future.