Climate Change, Disasters, and the Refugee Convention

Revealing the role of discrimination in disasters challenges received wisdom about who is a refugee.

Matthew Scott (Author)

9781108747127, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 February 2020

206 pages, 5 b/w illus. 2 tables
24.6 x 17.5 x 1.2 cm, 0.38 kg

'Matthew Scott's book is a very welcome, thought-provoking and significant contribution to the discussion on the protection of persons displaced across borders in the context of disasters and adverse effects of climate change. Highlighting that disasters result from the interaction of natural hazards and social vulnerability rather than just being 'natural', he cogently shows how the refugee definition enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention should be interpreted to cover certain categories of individuals who, on account of pre-existing patterns of discrimination, are more vulnerable to the impacts of disasters than others. This is essential reading for everyone interested in exploring the potential of refugee law to address the plight of the growing number of persons forced to flee in the context of drought, flooding, sea-level rise and other forms of environmental degradation.' Walter Kälin, Universität Bern, Switzerland

Climate Change, Disasters and the Refugee Convention is concerned with refugee status determination (RSD) in the context of disasters and climate change. It demonstrates that the legal predicament of people who seek refugee status in this connection has been inconsistently addressed by judicial bodies in leading refugee law jurisdictions, and identifies epistemological as well as doctrinal impediments to a clear and principled application of international refugee law. Arguing that RSD cannot safely be performed without a clear understanding of the relationship between natural hazards and human agency, the book draws insights from disaster anthropology and political ecology that see discrimination as a contributory cause of people's differential exposure and vulnerability to disaster-related harm. This theoretical framework, combined with insights derived from the review of existing doctrinal and judicial approaches, prompts a critical revision of the dominant human rights-based approach to the refugee definition.

1. Introduction
2. Two disaster paradigms
3. Jurisprudence on RSD in the context of 'natural' disasters and climate change
4. Interpreting the refugee definition
5. The temporal scope of being persecuted
6. The personal scope of being persecuted: the function of the non-discrimination norm within the refugee definition
7. Refugee status determination in the context of 'natural' disasters and climate change
Appendix 1. Taxonomy.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], Law [L], Human rights [JPVH], International relations [JPS], Refugees & political asylum [JFFD], Social impact of disasters [JFFC], Society & social sciences [J]