TOW environmental migrants in the international refuge law and human rights: an assessment of protection gaps and migrants’ legal protection

Abstract

The concept and the rights of environmental refugee have attracted national, international governance and scholars' attention. I have tried to analyses through descriptive and explanatory approach the current trend of environmental refugees' legal protection and its limitation and achievement. Thus, the objective of this research work is first to review legal scholars' work, relating to environmental refugees to show the current trend, relating to environmental refugees protection. Second, to analyse the existing legal framework to show, whether it adequately has governed the issue of environmental refugees' rights and identify the gap. Third, it explains the ways forward. The international refugee law (the 1951 refugee convention and the 1969 OAU refugee convention), the international environmental law, international law on Stateless persons, the international human right law and the system of temporary protected status. Environmental refugees could be referred otherwise as environmental migrants, environmentally displaced persons, climate refugees, climate change refugees, environmental refugees and ecological refugees, thus it implies the same thing in this context. The legal concepts are making that definition, such as well-founded fear, persecution, crossing international border, exclusion from refugee status (undeserving cases), and cessation of refugee status. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees state that 36 million people were displaced by natural disasters in 2009, and about 20 million of those were forced to move for climate change-related issues. According to other estimates, there could be as many as 150 million by 2050. In accordance with the estimates of UN Environment Programme, by 2060 there could be 50 million environmental refugees in Africa alone