Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Finns det stöd att prata om "klimatflyktingar" inom internationell rätt?

Hansson Catenot, Alicia LU (2020) LAGF03 20201
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Climate change has an impact on the movement of persons and numbers of so-called climate refugees are expected to rise due to more intense and frequent impacts caused by the changing climate. The purpose of the essay is to investigate whether there is support to talk about climate refugees in international law. The essay examines both whether there is support to talk about the term climate refugee or other similar terms used to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change and whether there is any legal protection for so-called climate refugees.
There is no agreed terminology in the literature to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change and the various terms that are being... (More)
Climate change has an impact on the movement of persons and numbers of so-called climate refugees are expected to rise due to more intense and frequent impacts caused by the changing climate. The purpose of the essay is to investigate whether there is support to talk about climate refugees in international law. The essay examines both whether there is support to talk about the term climate refugee or other similar terms used to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change and whether there is any legal protection for so-called climate refugees.
There is no agreed terminology in the literature to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change and the various terms that are being used lack legal definitions. Climate refugees lack explicit protection in international law. The essay examines three possible protections for climate refugees: The Refugee Convention, the principle of non-refoulement and the laws on state responsibility combined with environmental law.
The essay demonstrates that conceptually there is no support to talk about climate refugees, as there are no legal definitions and no agreed terminology in the literature to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change. The essay also shows that there is hardly any legal support for so-called climate refugees. In some special cases, climate refugees may be covered by the protection offered by the Refugee Convention and the principle of non-refoulement, but the chances seem to be very small. The laws on state responsibility combined with environmental law do not seem to be able to offer protection for climate refugees in the present situation. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Klimatförändringar har en påverkan på människors förflyttning och antalet så kallade klimatflyktingar förväntas öka på grund av att klimatförändringars effekter blir mer intensiva och frekventa. Syftet med uppsatsen är utreda om det finns stöd att prata om klimatflyktingar inom internationell rätt. I uppsatsen utreds både om det finns stöd att prata om själva begreppet klimatflyktingar eller andra liknande begrepp som används för att beskriva människor som flyr undan effekterna av naturkatastrofer eller klimatförändringar och om det finns något rättsligt skydd för så kallade klimatflyktingar.
I den folkrättsliga litteraturen finns ingen överenskommen terminologi för att beskriva människor som flyr undan effekterna av naturkatastrofer... (More)
Klimatförändringar har en påverkan på människors förflyttning och antalet så kallade klimatflyktingar förväntas öka på grund av att klimatförändringars effekter blir mer intensiva och frekventa. Syftet med uppsatsen är utreda om det finns stöd att prata om klimatflyktingar inom internationell rätt. I uppsatsen utreds både om det finns stöd att prata om själva begreppet klimatflyktingar eller andra liknande begrepp som används för att beskriva människor som flyr undan effekterna av naturkatastrofer eller klimatförändringar och om det finns något rättsligt skydd för så kallade klimatflyktingar.
I den folkrättsliga litteraturen finns ingen överenskommen terminologi för att beskriva människor som flyr undan effekterna av naturkatastrofer eller klimatförändringar och de olika begreppen som används saknar legala definitioner. Klimatflyktingar saknar ett uttryckligt skydd i internationell rätt. I uppsatsen undersöks tre möjliga skydd: flyktingkonventionen, principen om non-refoulement och statsansvarsreglerna i kombination med miljörättsliga regler.
Uppsatsen kommer fram till att det begreppsmässigt inte finns stöd att prata om klimatflyktingar, eftersom det saknas legala definitioner och en överenskommen terminologi i folkrättslitteraturen för att beskriva de människor som flyr undan effekterna av naturkatastrofer eller klimatförändringar. Uppsatsen visar även att det knappt finns något rättsligt stöd för så kallade klimatflyktingar. I vissa särskilda situationer kan klimatflyktingar omfattas av skyddet som flyktingkonventionen och principen om non-refoulement erbjuder, men möjligheterna verkar vara väldigt små. Reglerna om statsansvar i kombination med miljörättsliga regler verkar i nuläget inte kunna erbjuda skydd för klimatflyktingar. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hansson Catenot, Alicia LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20201
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
folkrätt, klimatflyktingar
language
Swedish
id
9010584
date added to LUP
2020-09-17 20:52:06
date last changed
2020-09-17 20:52:06
@misc{9010584,
  abstract     = {{Climate change has an impact on the movement of persons and numbers of so-called climate refugees are expected to rise due to more intense and frequent impacts caused by the changing climate. The purpose of the essay is to investigate whether there is support to talk about climate refugees in international law. The essay examines both whether there is support to talk about the term climate refugee or other similar terms used to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change and whether there is any legal protection for so-called climate refugees. 
 There is no agreed terminology in the literature to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change and the various terms that are being used lack legal definitions. Climate refugees lack explicit protection in international law. The essay examines three possible protections for climate refugees: The Refugee Convention, the principle of non-refoulement and the laws on state responsibility combined with environmental law. 
 The essay demonstrates that conceptually there is no support to talk about climate refugees, as there are no legal definitions and no agreed terminology in the literature to describe persons fleeing the effects of natural disasters or climate change. The essay also shows that there is hardly any legal support for so-called climate refugees. In some special cases, climate refugees may be covered by the protection offered by the Refugee Convention and the principle of non-refoulement, but the chances seem to be very small. The laws on state responsibility combined with environmental law do not seem to be able to offer protection for climate refugees in the present situation.}},
  author       = {{Hansson Catenot, Alicia}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Finns det stöd att prata om "klimatflyktingar" inom internationell rätt?}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}