Why climate migrants do not have refugee status
A “The Economist explains” article delves into the thorny issue of why climate migrants have not been given official “refugee” status under international law. “On the surface, the problem is bureaucratic,’ the Economist says. “Environmental migrants are not covered by the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which is designed to protect those fleeing persecution, war or violence.” But there are capacity issues as well. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) “already struggles to provide adequate support for the world’s 22.5m refugees”. The process of renegotiating the existing refugee treaty or creating a new one could take decades, the article notes, and “experts also worry that political opportunists…would use its renegotiation as an opportunity to dilute current obligations”. However, a “Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD)”, launched in 2016 by a coalition of national governments, will encourage countries to assist climate migrants despite the lack of legal recognition. “The PDD’s reach is more limited than that of the UN agencies,” says the Economist, but “supporters argue that it provides the most effective way to organise the necessary resources”. The Economist