Climate Change
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Introduction
The global climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis, contributing to the risk of displacement (either internally or across borders) sometimes associated with protection needs.
The links between climate change and displacement are complex and context specific. There are always multiple reasons why people move but climate change is a vulnerability multiplier, exacerbating underlying contributing factors such as poverty, food insecurity, poor governance, inter-communal tensions or violence, discrimination etc.
Although not everyone on the move in the context of climate change will be a refugee, there are some cases where they will fall within the refugee definition, or otherwise be in need of international protection, triggering UNHCR’s mandate and leadership role.
Legal instruments
- Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UN General Assembly, 14 December 1950
- Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, UN General Assembly, 28 July 1951
- Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, UN General Assembly, 30 January 1967
- Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa ("OAU Convention"), Organization of African Unity, 10 September 1969
- Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, 22 November 1984
Recast Qualification Directive 2011/95/EU, European Union, 20 December 2011
- New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, 19 September 2016
Global Compact on Refugees, 17 December 2018
- Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, UN Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, 11 February 1998
- African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa ("Kampala Convention"), African Union, 22 October 2009
Executive and Standing Committee Documents
Policy Documents
UNHCR
- UNHCR’s Focus Area Strategic Plan on Climate Action, 2024
- International Protection Considerations with Regard to People Fleeing Haiti, 2024
- Climate change, international refugee law and UNHCR's mandate, 2023
- Protection of Persons Displaced Across Borders in the Context of Disasters and the Adverse Effects of Climate Change: Good Practices to Support Implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees, PDD/UNHCR, 2023
- Strategic Framework for Climate Action, 2021
- Legal considerations regarding claims for international protection made in the context of the adverse effects of climate change and disasters, 2020
- Policy on UNHCR’s Engagement in Situations of Internal Displacement and Guidance Package, 2019
- Words into Action guidelines - Disaster displacement: How to reduce risk, address impacts and strengthen resilience, UNDRR, 2019
- Climate change and disaster displacement in the Global Compact on Refugees, 2018
- Legal considerations on refugee protection for people fleeing conflict and famine affected countries, 2017
- Toolbox on Planned Relocation and Guidance, collective, 2017 and 2015
- Key concepts on climate change and disaster displacement, 2017
Other Sources
Declaration on International Protection in the context of Disasters and Climate Change, Refugee Law Initiative (RLI), 30 May 2024
Case Law & Court Interventions
- Amicus Brief of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the Request for an Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights from the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Chile, UNHCR, Dec. 2023
- Teitiota v. New Zealand, UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/127/D/2728/2016, 7 January 2020
- I.L. v. Italian Ministry of the Interior and Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Ancona N., Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, 5022/2021, 2021
Research and Reports
UNHCR
- Assessing serious disturbances to public order under the 1969 OAU Convention, including in the context of disasters, environmental degradation and the adverse effects of climate change, Cleo Hansen-Lohrey, UNHCR, 2023
- Legal and protection policy research series: Refugee Law in a Time of Climate Change, Disaster and Conflict, Sanjula Weerasinghe, UNHCR, 2020
- Cross Border Displacement, Climate Change and Disasters: Latin America and the Caribbean, David James Cantor, UNHCR & PDD, 2018
- Mapping of existing international and regional guidance and tools on averting, minimizing, addressing and facilitating durable solutions to displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change, Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) Task Force on Displacement, UNHCR, 2018
- In Harm's Way: International Protection in the Context of Nexus Dynamics Between Conflict or Violence and Disaster or Climate Change, Sanjula Weerasinghe, UNHCR, 2018
- UNHCR and Climate Change, Disasters, and Displacement, Guy S Goodwin-Gill & Jane McAdam, UNHCR, 2017
Other Sources
- Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change – Volume 1
- Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change – Volume 2
Other Relevant Links
- Climate Change and Forced Displacement, Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection UNHCR - Gillian Triggs, UNEP-OHCHR Environmental Rights Bulletin, 2023
- Human mobility, rights and international protection: responding to the climate crisis, Madeline Garlick and Isabelle Michal, Forced Migration Review, 2022
- International Protection in Response to Adverse Effects of Climate Change and Disasters, Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh, Isabelle Michal, for the Global Shifts Colloquium: Seeking Refuge in the Climate Emergency, Perry World House, University of Pennsylvania, October 2020
- Addressing Displacement in the Context of Disasters and the Adverse Effects of Climate Change: Elements and Opportunities in the Global Compact on Refugees, Volker Türk, Madeline Garlick, International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 31, Issue 2-3, June/October 2019, pp. 389–399