An Intro to the Blog

This blog works to provide resources and discussion on the need to increase the rights of climate refugees in international law and policy. The postings outline basic information on the topic and increase in scope, expanding to display the opinions of policy makers and current work in the field of refugee rights. Links to websites, embedded photos, podcasts and videos support my belief that not enough legislation exists within the international human rights and refugee frameworks to fully protect climate refugees. My proposed modifications to refugee and climate law as well as analysis of specific bodies of the UN that should be held responsible for incorporating climate refugee policy into their work finishes my series of postings.

*Note: Please read Protecting the Rights of Climate Refugees from the beginning, the first post at the bottom of the page.

What Needs to Happen Next?

While the UDHR, the Geneva Convention on Refugees and UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHRC) all provide security and protection for migrants and victims of forced migration and displacement, no agency or body of international law has been modified to include climate refugees. I believe that special policy must be created to protect the rights of climate refugees and this policy can be easily introduced into pre-existing bodies of the UN and its Refugee and Climate laws.

Article 3 of the UDHR states that all people have the rights to life, liberty and security of persons. In the wake of climate change, the idea of an individual's right to life and right to security need to be expanded to encompass the realities of global warming. Communities and regions around the world can not be guaranteed a right to security and life in their homelands as rising tides and changes in climate patterns make survival nearly, if not entirely, impossible.

Separate from the arena of refugee creation due to natural disasters, a reality that humanity has experienced since its inception, the refugees of climate change result from humans' pollution and environmental destruction. Conflicts resulting from resource scarcity, droughts and increased frequency of disasters due to altered climate patterns and the total destruction and loss of land from rising sea levels, are three of the major threats to communities around the world. These individuals should be given refugee status in escaping life threatening situations that result from climate change.

Because there is no one group or leader responsible for climate change, it is difficult to hold climate refugees under the same status as political refugees. Yet the plight of climate refugees is similar to refugees of war or political oppression, as both must leave their homelands due to fear or lack of opportunity, both of which are caused by people infringing on their human rights. The UNEP, the UNDP and the Hague continue to discuss the pressing problem of providing aid to climate refugees. Resolutions on the issue range from establishing resettlement centers to providing additional aid to Small Island Developing States and other regions most vulnerable to sea level rise and the resulting loss of land and the displacement of people. I feel that placing language within the UNHRC laws as well as noting climate refugees within climate change policy overseen by the UNEP is the first step that must be taken. By taking this action, development policy surrounding climate change and refugees will more clearly work to address to the needs of this growing group of refugees world wide. Rather than allowing climate change to continue to create new populations of refugees that are unprotected by the state, policy and development focused on these communities can place a human face on the realities of climate change and better protect the human rights threatened in the 21st century.

Al Jazeera's 2009 piece on the increasing number of climate refugees in South East Asia

What are the Experts Saying about Climate Refugees

The Refugee Studies Center's Forced Migration Online posted an interesting podcast by Radio Netherlands broadcasting from the Hague Debates in May 2008. Jump to minute 10 of the podcast to begin: ‘When home gets too hot: Human Displacement and Climate Change in International Law’

http://www.forcedmigration.org/podcasts/hague-climate-debate/

The Brookings Institute provides researches on some of the most pressing topics in International Relations. Walter Kälin, Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and Co-Director,Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement produced an interesting document in 2008 analyzing the nexus between climate change and the displacement of people.

Here is a link to the document: http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/1016_climate_change_kalin.aspx

Kälin concludes 3 major points from his research that I would like to share with you:

1. Persons affected by the effects of natural disasters and other effects of climate change should be considered as being forcibly displaced and thus, in principle, of special concern of the international community if:

• As persons displaced inside their country, they cannot return to their homes for factual or legal reasons or cannot reasonably be expected to do so because of a lack of security or sustainable livelihoods there. They are persons internally displaced as a consequence of the effects of climate change or other environmentally related reasons. They should be assisted and protected within the framework of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

• As persons displaced across internationally recognized state borders, they cannot return to their country of origin for factual or legal reasons or cannot reasonably be expected to do so because of a lack of security or sustainable livelihoods there. They are persons displaced across internationally recognized borders as a consequence of the effects of climate change or other environmentally related reasons. They should be granted admission to and temporary – and in some cases (e.g. sinking island states) even permanent – stay in the country concerned. The exact scope of their entitlements to assistance and protection needs to be further determined.

2. Persons affected by the effects of natural disasters and other effects of climate change but not falling into any of these categories are not victims of forced movement and thus should not, in principle, be of concern to the international community as a special category even if their movement is triggered by such effects. Nevertheless, they may profit from protection and assistance available under general human rights law, including in particular provisions addressing the specific needs of migrants, and the exact scope of these entitlements needs to be further determined.

3. Persons displaced inside or across internationally recognized state borders by armed conflicts over resources becoming scarce as a consequence of climate change, are internally displaced persons, refugees or persons under temporary protection regimes and their entitlements to assistance and protection are determined by the respective normative regimes (Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement; refugee law; etc.).

More Background

I love the How Stuff Works website, the writers concisely and intelligently explain the background to issues you're interested in and provide video and resources for your further education.

Check out their page on climate refugees: http://www.howstuffworks.com/climate-refugee.htm

And while no legislation exists in UN law, that does not mean that agencies like the UNEP and UNDP are not concerned and aware of climate refugees and the global need to prevent further forced migrations of people due to the effects of climate change. The UNEP predicted that there would be 50 million climate refugees by 2010 in 2005. This is the UNEP's map of areas most effected by climate change and those regions that will produce climate refugees over the next decade.

Who is a Climate Refugee?

The Geneva Refugee Convention defines a refugee as a person who "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country"

Today there is no set definition for who is considered a climate refugee. This lack of definition results from the lack of policy and law that address the issues of climate change and migration by the United Nations and its agencies. I personally feel that the International Organization for Migration provides an excellent definition for climate refugees, one that, perhaps the UN should consider.

"Environmental migrants are persons or groups of persons who, for reasons of sudden or progressive changes in the environment that adversely affect their lives or living conditions, are obliged to have to leave their habitual homes, or choose to do so, either temporarily or permanently, and who move either within their territory or abroad."

check out their website http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/definitional-issues

No Place Like Home by the Environmental Justice Foundation

To begin the discussion on Climate Refugees take a look at this short video made by the UK group the Environmental Justice Foundation. It's called No Place Like Home. It speaks with President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives and Premier Talagi of Niue about how climate change is affecting their countries and the realities that climate refugees will face without legal protection.

'NO PLACE LIKE HOME' from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.