Climate Change-related Displacement of Persons

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane McAdam
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
International Borders ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

This chapter examines the scope of existing international law to address ‘climate change-related displacement’, a term used to describe movement where the impacts of climate change affect mobility decisions in some way. It looks into the role of international refugee law, human rights law, and the law on statelessness in protecting people displaced by the impacts of climate change. The extent to which international law and international institutions respond to climate change-related movement and displacement depends upon: whether such movement is perceived as voluntary or forced; the nature of the trigger; whether international borders are crossed; the extent to which there are political incentives to characterize movement as linked to climate change or not; and whether movement is driven or aggravated by human factors, such as discrimination. The chapter also considers the extent to which existing principles on internal displacement provide normative and practical guidance.

Part I International Refugee Law— Reflections on the Scholarly Field, Ch.2 Race, Refugees, and International Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tendayi Achiume E
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Role Of Religion

The experiences of refugees are heavily mediated by race and ethnicity, and international law plays a significant role in this mediation—in some cases offering important protections, and in others entrenching discrimination and exclusion. This Chapter makes four contributions. First, it articulates a structural and intersectional account of race, racial discrimination and xenophobic discrimination as essential starting points for international legal analysis of race and refugees. This analysis includes the overlap and distinctions between racial and xenophobic discrimination, as well as the role of religion, class and gender in shaping racial discrimination against refugees. Secondly, it reviews the doctrine on race and refugees in international refugee law and international human rights law, and maps the attendant academic literature analyzing this law. Thirdly, the Chapter canvasses legal scholarship that has examined the structure, history and development of the international refugee regime in relation to race. Finally, it concludes with reflections on a research agenda on race and refugees.

Climate Change and People on the Move

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
International Law ◽  
Corrective Justice ◽  
Change Context ◽  
International Responsibility ◽  
People Movement ◽  
Disproportionate Burden ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

The book applies a justice framework to analysis of the actual and potential role of international law with respect to people on the move in the context of anthropogenic climate change. That people are affected by the impacts of climate change is no longer doubted, including with implications for the movement of people (migration, displacement, relocation, etc.). The book tackles unique questions concerning international responsibility for people movement arising from the inequities inherent to climate change. Corrective and distributive justice provide the analytical backbone. They are explored in a substantial theoretical chapter and then applied to subsequent contextual analysis. Corrective justice supports analysis as to whether people movement in the climate change context could be conceived or framed as harm, loss, or damage which is compensable under international law, either through fault-centred regimes or no-fault regimes (i.e., insurance). Distributive justice supports analysis as to whether such movement could be conceived or framed as a disproportionate burden, either for those faced with movement or those faced with sheltering people on the move, from which duties of redistribution may stem. The book contributes to the growing scholarship and analysis concerning international law or governance and people movement in response to climate change by investigating the bounds of the law where the phenomenon is viewed as one of (in)justice.

The Refugee in International Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goodwin-Gill Guy S ◽  
McAdam Jane
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Full Account ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

The status of the refugee in international law, and of everyone entitled to protection, has always been precarious, not least in times of heightened and heated debate. People have always moved in search of safety, and they always will. This completely revised and updated edition casts new light on the refugee definition, the meaning of persecution, the role of gender and sexual orientation, the types of harm, and the protection due to refugees. The book reviews the fundamental principle of non-refoulement as a restraint on the conduct of States, even as States themselves seek new ways to prevent refugees and asylum seekers arriving. The book analyses related principles of protection—non-discrimination, due process, rescue at sea, and solutions—in light of what States, UNHCR, and treaty-monitoring bodies actually do, rather than merely deductively. It closely examines relevant treaty standards, and the role of UNHCR in providing protection, contributing to the development of international refugee law, and promoting solutions. New chapters bring into focus evolving protection demands in relation to nationality, statelessness, and displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. The book factors in the challenges posed by the movement of people across land and sea in search of refuge, and their interception, reception, and later treatment. The overall aim remains the same as in previous editions: to provide a sound basis for protection in international law, taking full account of State and community interests and recognizing the need to bridge gaps in the regime which now has 100 years of law and practice behind it.

scholarly journals Oceans, IUU Fishing, and Climate Change: Implications for International Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 377-388
Author(s):  
Christina Voigt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
Iuu Fishing ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Migratory Routes ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing poses a significant threat to marine fisheries and biodiversity only outpaced by the projected impacts of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Ocean warming might affect fish stocks, their health and migratory routes. Ocean acidification and de-oxygenation are another two phenomena that might affect certain marine species as well as entire marine ecosystems. Rebuilding of overexploited and depleted fisheries and managing fisheries sustainably will require comprehensive governance structures for port, flag, coastal and market states, which also address the causes and impacts of climate change. Addressing those concerns could open for opportunities for comprehensive and synergetic regulation. This article addresses potential synergies between oceans and climate governance; focusing on the role of oceans in addressing climate change and its adverse impacts. Suggestions to this end include (i) increasing ocean-based renewable energy, (ii) decarbonizing ocean-based transport, and (iii) pursuing integrated management of fisheries and aquaculture.

Legal and Anthropological Approaches to International Refugee Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Bianchini
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Liberal Theory ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Transnational Activities ◽  
Positivist Approach

This chapter offers an overview of the contribution of anthropology to the study of international refugee law. It starts with a review of the positivist legal approach, which has long dominated the field of international refugee law, with its focus on rules and states, and argues that this approach is unable to fully explain how refugee law is created and how it develops. Two recent strands—the transnational approach and the participatory approach—have criticized the limitations of the positivist approach and emphasized the role of transnational activities and actors in the process of lawmaking. However, these strands remain rooted in a liberal theory of international law, and they do not capture the complexities of the relevant human experiences. The chapter argues that an anthropological approach shifts the focus from states, borders, and citizenship towards the individual by combining and embedding human interpretations, behaviours, cultural contexts, and personal interactions with the law. Moreover, anthropological methods can enrich the understanding of the implementation of refugee law by empirically assessing legal issues. Beyond that, the chapter suggests areas that could benefit from future academic research at the interface of anthropology and refugee law.

EU Non-Refoulement: (The Irrelevance of) Territoriality and Pre-Border Controls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violeta Moreno-Lax
Keyword(s):  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Functional Understanding ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
The Eu

This chapter identifies the content and scope of application of the EU prohibition of refoulement. Following the ‘cumulative standards’ approach, the analysis incorporates developments in international human rights law (IHRL) and international refugee law (IRL). Taking account of the prominent role of the ECHR and the Refugee Convention (CSR51) as sources of Article 19 CFR, these are the two main instruments taken in consideration. The scope of application of Articles 33 CSR51 and 3 ECHR will be identified in turns. Autonomous requirements of EU law will be determined by reference to the asylum acquis as interpreted by the CJEU. The main focus will be on the establishment of the territorial reach of EU non-refoulement. The idea that it may be territorially confined will be rejected. Drawing on the ‘Fransson paradigm’, a ‘functional’ understanding of the ‘implementation of EU law’ standard under Article 51 CFR will be put forward, as the decisive factor to determine applicability of Charter provisions. The implications of non-refoulement for the different measures of extraterritorial control considered in Part I will be delineated at the end.

On the Legality Under International Law of the Criminalization or Suppression of the Expression of Solidarity to Refugees

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 102-113
Author(s):  
Obiora Chinedu Okafor
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
International Refugee Law

As Professor Jastram has noted, in and of itself, international refugee law is not explicit enough on the issue at hand. It is not clear enough in protecting persons who come in aid of, or show solidarity to, refugees or asylum-seekers. That does not mean, however, that no protections exist for them at all in other, if you like, sub-bodies of international law. This presentation focuses on the nature and character of those already existing international legal protections, as well as on any protection gaps that remain and recommendations on how they can be closed. It should be noted though that although the bulk of the presentation focuses on the relevant international legal protection arguments, this presentation begins with a short examination of the nature of the acts of criminalization and suppression at issue.

Impact and uncertainty of climate projections on Alpine catchments using high-resolution models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Sebastian Moraga ◽  
Nadav Peleg ◽  
Simone Fatichi ◽  
Peter Molnar ◽  
Paolo Burlando
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Internal Climate Variability ◽  
Mountainous Catchments ◽  
Precipitation Decrease ◽  
Alpine Catchments ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

<p>Hydrological processes in mountainous catchments will be subject to climate change on all scales, and their response is expected to vary considerably in space. Typical hydrological studies, which use coarse climate data inputs obtained from General Circulation Models (GCM) and Regional Climate Models (RCM), focus mostly on statistics at the outlet of the catchments, overlooking the effects within the catchments. Furthermore, the role of uncertainty, especially originated from natural climate variability, is rarely analyzed. In this work, we quantified the impacts of climate change on hydrological components and determined the sources of uncertainties in the projections for two mostly natural Swiss alpine catchments: Kleine Emme and Thur. Using a two-dimensional weather generator, AWE-GEN-2d, and based on nine different GCM-RCM model chains, we generated high-resolution (2 km, 1 hour) ensembles of gridded climate inputs until the end of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. The simulated variables were subsequently used as inputs into the fully distributed hydrological model Topkapi-ETH to estimate the changes in hydrological statistics at 100-m and hourly resolutions. Increased temperatures (by 4°C, on average) and changes in precipitation (decrease over high elevations by up to 10%, and increase at the lower elevation by up to 15%) results in increased evapotranspiration rates in the order of 10%, up to a 50% snowmelt, and drier soil conditions. These changes translate into important shifts in streamflow seasonality at the outlet of the catchments, with a significant increase during the winter months (up to 40%) and a reduction during the summer (up to 30%). Analysis at the sub-catchment scale reveals elevation-dependent hydrological responses: mean annual streamflow, as well as high and low flow extremes, are projected to decrease in the uppermost sub-catchments and increase in the lower ones. Furthermore, we computed the uncertainty of the estimations and compared them to the magnitude of the change signal. Although the signal-to-noise-ratio of extreme streamflow for most sub-catchments is low (below 0.5) there is a clear elevation dependency. In every case, internal climate variability (as opposed to climate model uncertainty) explains most of the uncertainty, averaging 85% for maximum and minimum flows, and 60% for mean flows. The results highlight the importance of modelling the distributed impacts of climate change on mountainous catchments, and of taking into account the role of internal climate variability in hydrological projections.</p>

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