Climate Refugees

UNHCR Official: “Good Case to Be Made” for Climate Refugees Protocol

UNHCR Official: “Good Case to Be Made” for Climate Refugees Protocol

Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs said recently that while opening up the 1951 Refugee Convention to reform would be a risky step backwards, there was a “good case to be made” that a new protocol on climate refugees should be introduced. 

The comments from one of UNHCR’s most senior officials come just a few months after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change highlighted the apparent reluctance of UN agencies on refugees and migration  to provide a total assessment of the number of people displaced internationally as a result of climate change. In that report, Special Rapporteur Fry explicitly called for an optional protocol to the 1951 Convention, commenting that it would be logical for UNHCR to administer such a protocol in coordination with IOM and other relevant bodies. 

Global Displacement On the Rise, But Lack of Comprehensive Data and Understanding of Climate Change Displacement Persists

Global Displacement On the Rise, But Lack of Comprehensive Data and Understanding of Climate Change Displacement Persists

When it comes to displacement, there is a tendency to focus on one type at a time, usually internal or cross-border displacement. While this can be helpful in developing digestible advocacy messages and manageable policy responses, a siloed approach runs the risk of perpetuating gaps in data and understanding, especially when it comes to displacement as a result of climate change. 

Ukrainian Refugee Crisis Offers Disturbing Insight for Future of Climate Refugees

Ukrainian Refugee Crisis Offers Disturbing Insight for Future of Climate Refugees

It’s been one month since Russia invaded Ukraine, causing 3.5 million people to flee the country, an overwhelming majority heading west into the European Union (EU). As the smoke has cleared from the initial onset of the invasion, a picture has begun to emerge highlighting the either “unusually generous or overtly racist” stance taken by western media and the EU towards Ukrainian refugees in contrast to other non-Ukrainian refugees.

When those displaced by climate induced famine or conflict come from Africa, the Middle East or South Asia seeking refuge, can they expect such a warm reception from the EU and other wealthy nations as Ukrainian nationals have received? Sadly, refugee policy in Europe and other wealthy western nations have made it clear this is not the new status quo in handling refugees.

2021 Deepened Climate Migration as Survival

2021 Deepened Climate Migration as Survival

2021 closed with yet another year of record forcibly displaced persons and the climate crisis played a major role driving over 84 million people out of their homes.

We already know that in 2020, three times as many people - 30.7 million - were internally displaced by the climate crisis than by conflict or violence. Numbers over the last decade don’t fair any better either, where twice as much displacement was triggered by weather-related events than conflict or violence. The trends tell us people are being forcibly displaced, forced to migrate and wherever possible, migrating to survive.

Legal Status: The Critical Difference Between Two Climate Migrant Stories

Legal Status: The Critical Difference Between Two Climate Migrant Stories

A recent story in The Nation recounts the experiences of two climate migrants seeking refuge in the US with one defining difference between the two: legal status. The ease with which one migrant fleeing climate disaster is able to immigrate to the US mainland is juxtaposed to the difficulty of the other, highlighting the time sensitive need for the US to create legal infrastructure for climate migration.

Vatican Releases Guidelines to Address Climate Displacement

Vatican Releases Guidelines to Address Climate Displacement

Increasingly the Catholic Church has taken steps to highlight to world leaders the plight of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. As we noted in a previous Spotlight article, Pope Francis created and presides over a migrants and refugees section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in order to lead initiatives for the millions forcibly displaced by war, natural disasters and climate change.