The Australian climate law expert who has been appointed to the newly created post of United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights related to climate change says people displaced by global warming should be afforded the same protections as refugees.
Dr Ian Fry (right) engaged in climate negotiations on behalf of Tuvalu in 2017.
Dr Ian Fry, an Australian National University specialist in international environmental law, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that a thousand people are day are already being displaced by climate change, but because they do not face persecution and many do not leave their home countries they do not fit the legal definition of a refugee.
The Special Rapporteur position was created in recognition that climate change was causing infringements on basic human rights. Dr Fry, who spent two decades serving as climate ambassador for Vanuatu where he holds dual citizenship, won the post with support from Pacific island nations, which are considered to be at the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Though some of these nations face a potentially existential threat from climate change, more people are being internally and internationally displaced in places including sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia said Dr Fry.
“For a number of years there has been a concern that people displaced as a consequence of climate change aren’t afforded the same sort of protections that people who are refugees.
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“Rights to water, education, housing, etc are theoretically afforded to refugees. These people don’t meet that definition, and therefore they’re not afforded that right. And that’s certainly something I’ll be looking at – do we need to ascribe legal protection to people displaced by climate change?”
People forced from their homes often had basic human rights, such as the right to personal security and dignity, but also to access to stable supplies of food and water, infringed upon.
Dr Fry said in the coming years the problem of displacement due to climate change was only going to intensify in the region as rising waters hit coastal areas of Southeast Asia. He noted rising oceans had already had an impact on the Torres Strait Islands, but other climate impacts were forcing people to move in parts of Australia due to fire and flood.
Thousand a day displaced by climate change, but they aren’t protected like refugees: Expert
Source: Philippines Alive
