The problem of recognition of climate migrants by the public international law - Teitiota v The Chief Executive of Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment case
Abstract
The constantly growing range of the effects of climate change annually results in deterioration of living conditions of many people, even eliminating the possibility of further inhabitation of certain areas and forcing their residents to flee. In the most severe cases, mitigation or adaptation measures in changing circumstances may not be sufficient and migration may be the only solution. The legality of such migration may be a condition to obtain protection within the borders of the host country. The case that is a subject of this article concerns the Kiribati citizen who was trying to obtain a "climate refugee status", but he was refused to grant such protection since he was not fulfilling the conditions under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951. The purpose of the article is to analyse a wide range of possibilities to obtain protection by people in a similar situation under the public international law system and more specifically human rights and international environmental law. The article shows a wide protection gap in the internal regulations, as well as international ones, preventing the most vulnerable individuals from escaping the negative effects of climate change. In the end, the conclusion is that public international law in its current form is not able to provide sufficient protection for "climate refugees".
Keywords:
international environmental law, human rights, refugee, climate refugee, climate change.References
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