Bangladesh - climate change

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UNHCR prefers the concept of "internally displaced persons". How to qualify the entire population of a state where the territory of the latter would disappear under the sea? Will we, in the case of that State, talking about stateless and invoke the New York Convention? A difficult task since it will be to recognize the rights collectively to an entire population, while the New York conventions such as the Geneva Convention apply only to individuals.

Through these observations, it is our process of categorization of migrants that must be questioned. Thus, the qualification of "environmental migrant", much more appropriate do not exclude the possibility of qualifying a person as "refugee" when he becomes the victim of a conflict, encouraged or aggravated by climate change. However, during the debates on the most appropriate term to use, one always seems to exclude the other.

Barriers of importance

If states begin to lend an ear to the problems of global warming and environmental degradation, they are still far from thinking in terms of overall protection. Specifically, the Northern States are reluctant to adopt a collective approach of “environmental movement”, while developing countries are crossed by the idea that the charge of reception could be distributed following a global mechanism based on the idea of ​​international solidarity, especially since they are harder hit by climate and environmental degradation.

Some states go further and would prefer a mechanism based on a kind of “discriminatory compensation.” This mechanism would be based on the historical responsibility of northern states in climate change. This distribution implies that one can quantify more or less precisely the emission of greenhouse gases by the North.

Finally and on a purely legal standpoint, many states would prefer to keep their monopoly on the control of population movement and would see the introduction of a convention creating an international status of “environmentally displaced” as an intrusion into the field of their exclusive competence.

The international community soon will have to admit that the most " silent " situations always end up expressing themselves. Earlier the law has learned to talk about this issue, the better will be adapted remedies for the continuous degradation of the environment.

Conclusion: "climate refugees" or the tree that hides the forest

The challenge of the definition of climate change and how to tackle it, which currently plays in the preparation of the COP21, held in how to consider and respond to migration.

If the creation of a "climate refugees" status comes from a praiseworthy human feeling, it is not clear that this approach is of great relevance, nor real utility for the first concerned. Climate change is multifaceted; it is necessary to tailor responses based on migration scenario.

Our propensity to look for the status of "climate refugee" would not be encouraged by the often-negative perception of the term and the condition of "migrant"? It has become common in fact, in the newspapers and political speeches, the term "international migrant" refers exclusively to an "economic migrant", a term synonymous with illegitimacy and abuse. But a person who sacrifices himself for his family, from months or years away from home, hoping to secure a decent life and a better future for his children, and because he has no alternative locally, is it really illegitimate in its approach?

Rehabilitate the term "migrant" could help to recognize more rights to them, including in the case of migration induced by climate change. More than a specific legal status associated with an enumeration of rights, one could imagine regional agreements facilitating the resettlement of environmental migrants. For more than a protection status, surely the real question lies in the means of action to respond to such emergencies, and prevent as far as possible.

This could be, for example, to extend the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) for Refugees.

The political support for sustainable development, including coping mechanisms, or the establishment of a global monitoring and early warning network could prevent some of these intolerable humanitarian situations.

If one really wants to fix "climate injustice", which means that the poorest and most vulnerable populations suffering the consequences of the accelerated economic development of industrialized countries, the definition of a status of "climate refugee" being applied posteriori is not enough.

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Bibliography:

- « Climate refugees ». Legal and policy responses to environmentally induced migration » (2011), http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2011/462422/IPOL-LIBE_ET%282011%29462422_EN.pdf

- Frank Biermannn, Ingrid Boas, “Preparing for a warmer world, towards a global governance system to protect climate refugees”, in Global Governance Project, November 2007.

- UN Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective " , October 23, 2008 .

- Proposition de Jessica B. Cooper, “Environmental refugees: meeting the requirements of the refugee definition” , symposium on Endangered Species Act, in Environmental Law Journal, New York University, 1998,

- Gregory S. McCue, “Environmental refugees: applying international law to involuntary migrations”, in Georgetown International Environmental Law, vol. 6, 1993-1994, pp. 151-190.

- Sujatha Byravan, Sudhir Chella Rajan, “Providing new homes for climate change exiles”, in Climate Policy

- Michael Nash, Movie Climate