Environmental displacement in European asylum law

European Journal of Migration and Law

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 313-326

  Kolmannskog, Vikram ^a   Myrstad, Finn ^b  

^a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)   (Norway)

^b Brussels Office   (Belgium)

Author keywords

Climate change; Environmental displacement; Human rights; Humanitarian asylum; Legal migration; Non refoulement; Subsidiary protection; Temporary protection

Indexed keywords

EID: 70450253204     PISSN: 1388364X     EISSN: 15718166     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/138836409X12501577630588     Document Type: Article

References (53)

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8. Some have even argued that since climate changes are man-made and indirectly or directly force people to move, it can be perceived as a form of persecution (Conisbee and Simms, Environmental Refugees: The Case for Recognition, 2002). UNHCR has also recently stressed that the 1951 Refugee Convention will indeed be applicable in some cross-border displacement scenarios, as will UNHCR's mandate, for example in situations where the victims of natural disasters flee from their homeland because their government has consciously withheld or obstructed assistance in order to punish or marginalize them on one of the five grounds set out in the refugee definition ('Climate change, the environment, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective', 29.10.08. Policy Development and Evaluation Service, UNCHR).
9. Some of the information on the situation in individual European states has been gathered through a short survey. The following research question was posted on ECRE's ECRAN Discussion forum primo January 2009: 1) What does your country have of national legislation and/or practice addressing environmental displacement a. through prevention? b. through extending or denying protection? c. through extending or denying leave to stay on humanitarian grounds? d. in any other manner? This includes e.g. addressing the issue explicitly in law or through an inclusive or exclusive practice of humanitarian asylum. I would also be interested in how It is addressed as a prevention issue, e.g. through external adaptation support in other countries. Please supply me with some information about the legislation, practice, case-law etc. or let me know where to find it. The authors would like to thank ECRE and its members for information.
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