Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2022)

Conference: Climate Justice, Human Trafficking and Social Media & AI Regulation

Climate Refugees: A Comprehensive and Legal Analysis to Understanding Climate Change-Induced Migration and Displacement

https://doi.org/10.54873/jolets.v2i2.110
Nandini Praveen
Final year B.com LL.B (Hons) student, His Highness The Maharajas Government Law College, Ernakulam, Kerala, India

Corresponding Author(s) : Nandini Praveen

nandini.praveen2000@gmail.com

Journal of Law and Emerging Technologies, Vol. 2 No. 2 (2022)

Abstract

It is a sad but persistent reality that climate change may lead to migration of people from places that are not viable for living. The impact of climate change is widespread and can cause both displacement and deterioration of living conditions for the lower segments of society. Although many countries’ immigration policies adapt to the unfortunate environmental crisis, they do not yet fully offer a safe solution to the accelerating trend of climate refugees. Forced climate migrants fall into the cracks of international refugee and immigration policies. There is considerable resistance to expanding the definition of political refugees and including climate “refugees”. This paper is a doctrinal legal research-based analysis to understand forced migration and displacement in the light of climate change. The paper draws the background from the various displacement situations around the world and focuses on the current legal regime around the topic in International Environmental Law and International Refugee Law.

Keywords

Climate Change Migration Displacement Climate Refugees International Law تغير المناخ الهجرة النزوح لاجئو المناخ القانون الدولي
Praveen, N. (2022). Climate Refugees: A Comprehensive and Legal Analysis to Understanding Climate Change-Induced Migration and Displacement. Journal of Law and Emerging Technologies, 2(2), 24–50. https://doi.org/10.54873/jolets.v2i2.110
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. Christensen LL, 10 Years That Changed Our Vision: Europe & Hubble (ESA Publications 2000)
  2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Policymakers› summary of the potential impacts of climate change (Report from Working Groupe II to IPCC), (IPCC 1990)
  3. Stephen Castles, Mark J Miller and Giuseppe Ammendola, ‘The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World: New York: The Guilford Press, (2003), $30.00, 338 Pages’ (2005) 27 American Foreign Policy Interests 537 <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10803920500434037> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10803920500434037
  4. Mélissa Godin, ‘Climate Refugees Cannot Be Forced Home, UN Panel Says in Landmark Ruling’, (Time, Jan. 20, 2020), <https://time.com/5768347/climate-refugees-un-ioane-teitiota/> accessed 26 July 2022.
  5. Castles (n-3)
  6. Norman Myers, “Environmental Refugees: An Emergent Security Issue” (13th Economic Forum, Prague, 23-27 May 2005)
  7. Nicholas Stern, “The Economics of Climate change: the Stern review”, (1st edn, Cambridge University Press), 3
  8. Alan Dupont and GI Pearman, Heating up the Planet: Climate Change and Security (Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2006).
  9. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2009: Overcoming Barriers – Human Mobility and Development (UN 2009) <https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210576970> accessed 26 July 2022.
  10. UN High Commissioner for Refugees, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2015’ (UNHCR, 2016 <https://www.unhcr.org/576408cd7.pdf> accessed 26 July 2022.
  11. World Food Programme & Pacific Community, ‘Food Security in Vulnerable Islands: A Regional Food Security Atlas of the Pacific’ (WFP, 2018), <https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000071751/download/> accessed 26 July 2022.
  12. ‘Global Internal Displacement Database’ (IDMC) <https://www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data> accessed 26 July 2022.
  13. Ibid
  14. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, ‘The Cost of Doing Nothing: The Humanitarian Price of Climate Change and how it can be avoided’, (IFRC, 2019) < https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/2019-ifrc-codn-en.pdf/> accessed 26 July 2022.
  15. Oli Brown, ‘Migration and Climate Change’ (IOM, 2008) <https://olibrown.org/wp-content/ uploads/2019/01/2008-Migration-and-Climate-Change-IOM.pdf> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18356/26de4416-en
  16. Essam El-Hinnawi, ‘Environmental Refugees’, (UNEP, 1985)
  17. International Organization for Migration, “Discussion note: Migration and the Environment: Ninety-fourth session MC/ INF/288”, (IOM, 2007 <https://www.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl486/files/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/about_iom/en/council/94/MC_INF_288.pdf > accessed 26 July 2022.
  18. ‘Environmentally-Induced Population Displacements and Environmental Impacts Resulting from Mass Migrations’ (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration & Refugee Policy Group 1996).
  19. Myers (n-6)
  20. Walter Kälin and Nina Schrepfer, “Protecting People Crossing Borders in the Context of Climate Change: Normative Gaps and Possible Approaches”, (UNHCR, 2012) < https://www.unhcr.org/4f33f1729.pdf> accessed 26 July 2022.
  21. Michael Brzoska & Christiane Fröhlich, “Climate change, migration and violent conflict: vulnerabilities, pathways and adaptation strategies”, (2016), 5, Migration and Development, 190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21632324.2015.1022973
  22. Stern (N-7)
  23. Barbara Neumann and others, ‘Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding - A Global Assessment’ (2015) 10 PLOS ONE e0118571 <https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118571> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118571
  24. George Carter, ‘Establishing a Pacific Voice in the Climate Change Negotiations’ in Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte (eds), The New Pacific Diplomacy (1st edn, ANU Press 2015) <http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p328371/pdf/ch17.pdf> accessed 26 July 2022.
  25. Lauren, ‘Climate Refugees: A Global Crisis’ (Choose Love, 16 September 2019) <https://chooselove.org/news/the-plight-and-rise-of-climate-refugees/> accessed 26 July 2022.
  26. Dupont and Pearman (n-8)
  27. Carol Bellamy and UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2003 (The United Nations Children’s Fund 2002).
  28. Dupont and Pearman (n-8)
  29. Spencer S Hsu, ‘2 Million Displaced By Storms’ (13 January 2006) <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201912.html> accessed 26 July 2022.
  30. Kyung-wha Kang, OHCHR, The Conference on Climate Change and Migration: Addressing Vulnerabilities and Harnessing Opportunities (Feb. 19, 2008).
  31. Etienne Piguet, ‘Climate Change and Forced Migration’ [2008] UNHCR 15.
  32. Dipesh Chakrabarty, ‘Postcolonial Studies and the Challenge of Climate Change’ (2012) 43 New Literary History 1 <http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/new_literary_history/v043/43.1.chakrabarty.html> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2012.0007
  33. ‘Strategic Framework for Climate Action’, (UNHCR, 2021) < https://www.unhcr.org/protection/environment/604a26d84/strategic-framework-for-climate-action.html > accessed 26 July 2022.
  34. Robert A McLeman and François Gemenne (eds), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration (Routledge 2018). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315638843
  35. Jane McAdam, ‘Disappearing States’, Statelessness and the Boundaries of International Law (January 21, 2010). UNSW Law Research Paper No. 2010-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587087.003.0006
  36. C Palma, ‘NO SHELTER FROM THE STORM’ [2021] Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) 32 <https://ejfoundation.org/resources/downloads/EJF_Climate-Refugee-Report_2021_final.pdf> accessed 26 July 2022.
  37. B.S. Chimni , ‘Causes of Refugee Flows and the law of state responsibility’ - International Refugee Law: A Reader, (1st Edn, Sage Publications, 2000), 150
  38. Ibid
  39. Steve Lonergan, ‘The Role of Environmental Degradation in Population Displacement’ [1998] Environmental Change and Security Project Report 11.
  40. Katie Peters and Janani Vivekananda, ‘Topic Guide: Conflict, Climate and Environment’ (Evidence on Demand 2014 <https://www.gov.uk/dfid-research-outputs/topic-guide-conflict-climate-and-environment> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12774/eod_tg.november2014.peterskandvivekanandaj
  41. Susan Martin, Kanta Kumari Rigaud, Koko Warner, Hanspeter Wyss, ‘Human Mobility Should Be High on the Agenda in Paris’ <https://blogs.worldbank.org/peoplemove/human-mobility-should-be-high-agenda-paris> accessed 26 July 2022.
  42. Cristina Cattaneo and Giovanni Peri, ‘The Migration Response to Increasing Temperatures’ (2015) 122 Journal of Development Economics 47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w21622
  43. Alex Whiting, ‘Africa at Highest Risk of Major Economic Blow from Future Climate Threats: Global Index’ Reuters (19 December 2016 <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-agriculture-climatechange-idUSKBN14802K> accessed 26 July 2022.
  44. Andrea Milan, Benjamin Schraven, Koko Warner, Noemi Cascone, ‘Migration, Risk Management and Climate Change: Evidence and Policy Responses’, (Springer, 2016) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42922-9
  45. Carl-Friedrich Schleussner and others, ‘Armed-Conflict Risks Enhanced by Climate-Related Disasters in Ethnically Fractionalized Countries’ (2016) 113 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 9216 <https://pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1601611113> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601611113
  46. Siobhan McInerney-Lankford, Mac Darrow and Lavanya Rajamani, Human Rights and Climate Change: A Review of the International Legal Dimensions (The World Bank 2011) <http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/978-0-8213-8720-7> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8720-7
  47. Eve Lester, ‘Work, the Right to Work, and Durable Solutions: A Study on Sierra Leonean Refugees in The Gambia’ (2005) 17 International Journal of Refugee Law 331 <https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eei012> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eei012
  48. Jon Barnett and W Neil Adger, ‘Mobile Worlds: Choice at the Intersection of Demographic and Environmental Change’, Annual Review of Environment and Resources <https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/epdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-102016-060952> accessed 26 July 2022.
  49. Jane McAdam and Maryanne Loughry, ‘We Aren’t Refugees’ (Inside Story, 30 June 2009) <https://insidestory.org.au/we-arent-refugees/> accessed 26 July 2022.
  50. ‘Migration and Global Environmental Change: Future Challenges and Opportunities’ (Government Office for Science 2011).
  51. ‘Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change: October 2015’ (2016) 28 International Journal of Refugee Law 156 <https://academic.oup.com/ijrl/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ijrl/eew004> accessed 26 July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eew004
  52. Cristina Colón and Lucy Szaboova, ‘Summary Report Climate Mobility and Children.’ (UNICEF 2021)<https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/1926/file/Summary%20Report:%20Climate%20Mobility%20and%20Children.pdf> accessed 22 July 2022.
  53. Jessica Cooper, ‘Environmental Refugees: Meeting the Requirements of the Refugee Definition’, (1998) 6 NYU Envtl. L.J. 480 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 19 U.S.T. 6259, 189 U.N.T.S. 137 [hereinafter 1951 Convention].
  54. ‘Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating...’ (UNHCR 1992) HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1. < https://www.unhcr.org/4d93528a9.pdf> accessed 22 July 2022.
  55. Astri Suhrke, ‘Global Refugee Movements and Strategies of Response’, in U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY: GLOBAL AND DOMESTIC ISSUES (Mary M. Kritz ed., 1983)
  56. Bonnie Docherty and Tyler Giannini, ‘CONFRONTING A RISING TIDE: A PROPOSAL FOR A CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE REFUGEES’ (2009) 33 Harvard Environmental Law Review 56.
  57. UN (n-54)
  58. Shaina Stahl, ‘Unprotected Ground: The Plight of Vanishing Island Nations’, (2010) N.Y. Int›l L. Rev. 1.
  59. António Guterres, ‘Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Human Displacement: A UNHCR Perspective’ (UNHRC 2008).
  60. Fabrice G Renaud and others, ‘A Decision Framework for Environmentally Induced Migration.’ <https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.466.2243&rep=rep1&type=pdf> accessed 26 July 2022.
  61. Breanne Compton, ‘The Rising Tide of Environmental Migrants: Our National Responsibilities’, (2014) COLO. NAT. RES. ENERGY. & ENVTL L. REV. 357.
  62. Xing-Yin Ni, ‘A Nation Going Under: Legal Protection for “Climate Change Refugees”’, (2015) B.C. INT’L & COMP. L REV. 329.
  63. Guterres (n-60)
  64. Organization of African Unity, Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugees Problems in Africa, 1001 U.N.T.S. 45, entered into force June 20, 1974.
  65. Natália de Figueiredo Coelho Maciel, ‘Climate Refugees in International Law’ (CHARLES UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Political Studies 2019).
  66. OAU (n-65)
  67. Medard R.K. Rwelamira, (1983), ‘Some Reflection on the OAU Convention on Refugees: Some Pending Issues’, Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa 16.
  68. Ibid
  69. Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, Colloquium on the International Protection of Refugees in Central America, Mexico and Panama, adopted by the Colloquium on the International Protection of Refugees in Central America, Mexico and Panama, held at Cartagena, Colombia from 19-22 November 1984.
  70. Ibid
  71. Alice Edwards, (2006), 14 ‘Refugee Status Determination in Africa’, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2006.14.2.204
  72. Eduardo Arboleda, (1995), 7 ‘The Cartagena Declaration of 1984 and Its Similarities to the 1969 OAU Convention - A Comparative Perspective’, International Journal of Refugee Law, 91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/reflaw/7.Special_Issue.87
  73. R. Cohen & M. Bradley, (2010) 1 ‘Disasters and displacement: Gaps in protection.’, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 95 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/187815210X12766020139884
  74. ‘Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment’ (UN) A/CONF.48/14/Rev.1 <http://www.un-documents.net/aconf48-14r1.pdf> accessed 26 July 2022.
  75. ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (OHCHR) <https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child> accessed 26 July 2022.
  76. Joanna Apap and Capucine du Perron de Revel, ‘The Concept of “Climate Refugee’ (European Parliamentary Research Service 2021). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ‘Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’ (UNHCR, 2004 <https://www.unhcr.org/en-in/protection/idps/43ce1cff2/guiding-principles-internal-displacement.html> accessed 26 July 2022.
  77. Amnesty International, ‘UN Landmark Case for People Displaced by Climate Change’ (Amnesty International, 20 January 2020 <https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/01/un-landmark-case-for-people-displacedby-climate-change/> accessed 27 July 2022.
  78. New Zealand v AF (Kiribati), [2013] NZIPT 800413.
  79. Ibid
  80. ‘African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) October 23, 2009 | African Union’ <https://au.int/en/treaties/african-union-convention-protection-and-assistance-internally-displaced-persons-africa> accessed 26 July 2022.
  81. Ibid, Article 5.4
  82. Apap and Revel (n-77)
  83. ‘The Nansen Initiative’s Protection Agenda on What to Do about Disaster Displacement’ (D+C, 2017) <https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/nansen-initiatives-protection-agenda-what-do-about-disaster-displacement> accessed 26 July 2022.
  84. ‘Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change’ (The Nansen Initiative <https://disasterdisplacement.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/EN_Protection_Agenda_Volume_I_-low_res.pdf> accessed 27 July 2022.
  85. Apap and Revel (n-77)
  86. ‘New York Declaration’ (Refugees and Migrants, 15 September 2016) <https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/declaration> accessed 27 July 2022.
  87. ‘GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION INTERGOVERNMENTALLY NEGOTIATED AND AGREED OUTCOME’ (13 July 2018) <https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/180713_agreed_outcome_global_compact_for_migration.pdf> accessed 27 July 2022.
Read More
Author biographies is not available.
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC
Share |
Download this PDF file
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 686

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.