Type

Report

Author

Stravopoulou, M.

Title

Environmental displacement: the international legal dimensions

Year

2008

Publisher

Environment, Forced Migration & Social Vulnerability (EFMSN)

Abstract

This paper argues that determining when people may be in need of
international protection due to environmental damage requires a case by case
determination, and that efforts to label such persons as either ‘environmental refugees’, ‘climate change refugees’, ‘environmental migrants’ or with other similar terms, are simplistic and risk resulting in faulted policies. The paper examines how the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, in particular those on ‘protection from arbitrary displacement’, can offer a method for determining the types of international human rights and humanitarian concerns at play. It further suggests that while there is a need for the development of new legal norms to address some situations of displacement due to environmental damage, a new refugee-like regime is not necessary.

Citation

Stravopoulou, M. (2008). Environmental displacement: the international legal dimensions. Bonn : Environment, Forced Migration & Social Vulnerability (EFMSN).