Climate Change-Related Displacement and the Determination of Refugee Status under the 1951 Refugee Convention
Keywords:
climate change, climate-driven migration or displacement, climate migrants or refugees, determination of refugee status, the 1951 refugee convention, human rights-based approach, socio-economic conditions, vulnerability to climate disasters, the role of discrimination, rights-based climate litigation
Abstract
Climate change and climate-driven migration are two of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century, and there is no legal framework for protecting those displaced across national borders for climate-related reasons. The 1951 Refugee Convention hardly applies to human mobility in the context of climate change. This paper was written in the hopes of initiating a discussion concerning an alternative perspective through which persons fleeing natural disasters linked to climate change may satisfy the eligibility conditions for recognition of refugee status. Expanding the definition of refugee as defined in the Convention by including the notion of vulnerability to climate disasters that are caused by the underlying socio-economic conditions in the claimant’s home country and the role of discrimination in causing differential exposure to the climate-related disasters in legal definitions might open the door for the availability of refugee status for persons fleeing in the context of climate change. This paper proposes the adoption of a reformed human rights-based interpretation, particularly with regard to the individual nature of refugee status determination. Recalibrating the Convention to facilitate climate-induced migration could reduce political tension and social unrest in receiving countries.
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References
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Crawford, J. (2019) Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law. 9th edition. Oxford: OUP.
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Fletcher, L. E., Stover, E. and Weinstein, H.M. (2005) After the Tsunami: Human Rights of Vulnerable Populations. Human Rights Center of UC Berkeley and East-West Center.
Goodwin-Gill, G. S, McAdam, J., Dunlop, E. (2021) The Refugee in International Law. 4th edition. Oxford: OUP.
Hathaway, J., and Foster, M. (2014) The Law of Refugee Status. 2nd. Cambridge: CUP.
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McAdam, J. (2012) Climate Change, Forced Migration and International Law. Oxford: OUP.
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Historic UN Human Rights case opens door to climate change asylum claims. January 21, 2020. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/01/historic-un-human-rights-case-opens-door-climate-change-asylum-claims (accessed January 25, 2023).
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Sands, P., Peel, J., Fabra, A. and MacKenzie, R. (2018) Principles of Environmental Law. 4th edition. Cambridge: CUP.
Scott, M. (2020) Climate Change, Disasters, and the Refugee Convention. Cambridge: CUP.
Smith, R. K. M. (2020) International Human Rights Law. 9th edition. Oxford: OUP.
Techera, E., Lindley, J., N Scott, K., and Telesetsky, A. Routledge Hanbook of International Environmenta Law. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
Thomas, A., Benjamin, L. (2021) Non-economic Loss and Damage: Lessons from Displacement in the Caribbean. In: Broberg, M. (ed.) The Third Pillar of International Climate Change Policy: On ‘Loss and Damage’ After the Paris Agreement, Oxford: Routledge, p. 34.
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Toussaint, P. and Martinez Blanco, A. (2021) A human rights-based approach to loss and damage under the climate change regime. In: Broberg, M., Martinez Romera, B. (ed.) The Third Pillar of International Climate Change Policy: On ‘Loss and Damage’ After the Paris Agreement. Oxford: Routledge.
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Vince, G. (2022) Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval. London: Penguin.
Wewerinke-Singh, M. (2020) State Responsibility, Climate change and Human Rights under International Law. Oxford: Hart.
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Woerdman, E., Roggenkamp, M,. and Holwerda, M. (2022) Essential EU Climate Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Wold, C., Hunter, D and Powers, M. (2009) Climate Change and the Law. LexisNexis.
Worland, J. (2022) The Selfish Case for Climate Justice. TIME.
Published
2023-06-29
How to Cite
Sritharan E. S. (2023). Climate Change-Related Displacement and the Determination of Refugee Status under the 1951 Refugee Convention. LeXonomica, 15(1), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.18690/lexonomica.15.1.1-32.2023
Section
Articles