New Geopolitics Research

New Geopolitics Research

Environmental Refugees and the Gaps in International Legal Protection

Document Type : Original Article

Author
PhD student, Department of international law, Faculty of Law, University of Islamic Azad Kish, Island of Kish, Iran.
Abstract
One of the challenging issues in the field of modern international law is the emergence of a new type of refugee, which, based on reasons such as environmental hazards and the consequences of climate change, forces people to leave their homeland in order to continue living or provide welfare components in a better way. Population displacement is one of the most prominent signs of lack of security, which is both its cause and consequence, and is one of the most important human dangers. Due to the increasing speed of environmental degradation and climate change, the international refugee system today requires serious intervention in order to prevent and protect victims of environmental refugees. The aim of this research, which was conducted using a descriptive method of document analysis, is to provide a definition of environmental refugees in international law in order to seek a legal framework in international documents to protect them. The research question is formulated as follows: Whether the current international environmental law framework is sufficient for migration and environmental migrants? The hypothesis is that the current international legal framework is inadequate in dealing with migration and environmental migrants. The findings indicate that there is no explicit definition of this category of refugees in international documents, but they can be identified implicitly from regional documents and legal doctrine. The rights of environmental refugees are embedded in international documents and practice in two formats: the asylum legal system and the international human rights system. Since it is not always possible to rely on the state of their nationality to protect individuals, the effectiveness of exalted and export approaches to protecting environmental refugees requires the acceptance of shared responsibility by different countries, based on human dignity and fundamental human rights.
Keywords

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