21.1.2019

New publication: Why environmentally displaced persons from low-lying island nations are not climate “refugees”: a legal analysis

The latest report published in the Working paper series of the Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi University provides a discussion on the legal status of environmentally displaced persons from low-lying island nations, or “climate refugees” as they are often referred to in the media.

“Refugee” is a legal term, defined by Article 1A of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees. Thus, when the populations in danger of being displaced by the effects of climate change are referred to as “climate refugees”, the implicit assumption is that they qualify for the legal status of refugees, according to its legal definition. The working paper clarifies the situation by analysing if environmentally displaced persons from low-lying island states — those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change —  would, upon leaving their country of origin, qualify as refugees under the legal definition of the term. The paper also assesses the relevance of the non-refoulement principle, which is an essential component of the international protection of refugees and provides protection against return to a country where a person has reason to fear persecution.

The author of the paper, Michel Rouleau-Dick, is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi University. He has also recently been awarded the 2018 Master’s Award in Development Studies for his Master’s thesis in public international law, entitled “Statelessness, statehood and environmentally-displaced persons: the quest for legal status”.