UN expert calls for full legal protection for people displaced by climate change

GENEVA (27 JUNE 2023) – A UN expert today called for full legal protection for people displaced by the impacts of climate change in order to guarantee their human rights.

“The effects of climate change are becoming more severe, and the number of people displaced across international borders is rapidly increasing,” said Ian Fry, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the context of climate change.

“In 2020 alone, 30.7 million people were displaced from their homes due to weather-related events. Droughts were the main factor,” Fry said in his latest in his latest thematic report to the Human Rights Council. “We must take immediate steps to give legal protection to these people.”

The Special Rapporteur said that people displaced by climate change face multiple human rights violations including of their rights to food, water, sanitation, housing, health, education and, for some, their right to life.

“The human rights implications of climate change displacement, in particular across international borders, are significant and truly disturbing,” the expert said.

He called it “profoundly worrying” that large numbers of people displaced across borders die or go missing every year at both land and sea borders. More than 50,000 lost their lives during migratory movements between 2014 and 2022, Fry’s report said.

“It is equally shocking to note that more than half of those deaths occurred on routes to and within Europe, including in the Mediterranean Sea,” he said.

According to the Special Rapporteur, displacement due to climate change can result from different types of situations, from sudden to slow progressing events like sea level rise or droughts. Most people affected by these events are forced to move. Women and children being the most impacted by disasters and the effects of climate change, also make up for the majority of displaced people.

“The international community must realise its responsibility to protect people displaced across borders by climate change impacts,” the expert said.

Fry explained that the world was not operating in a total vacuum in terms of legal protection of people displaced due to climate change. He said there were several international human rights safeguards to address the issue.

“The Human Rights Council should prepare a resolution for submission to the UN General Assembly urging the body to develop an optional protocol under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees to address displacement and legal protection for people all over the world affected by the climate crisis,” the expert said.

“Until then, I urge all nations to develop national legislation to provide humanitarian visas for persons displaced across international borders due to climate change, as an interim measure,” he said.

ENDS