09 September 2013

Thematic Focus: Climate Displacement

A group of experts has crafted the Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement within States, a set of 18 principles that can serve as "a template for Government States to use to protect the human rights of people who lose their homes, lands and livelihoods as a result of climate change." Their focus is on internal displacement (unlike the Nansen Principles which address cross-border displacement) and as such, their aim is to build on and apply the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement to the climate displacement context.

Publications:

The Climate Change – Migration – Urbanisation Nexus: Workshop Report (IDS, Aug. 2013) [text]

From the Governance of Internal Displacement to the Governance of Environmental Migration: What the Latter Can Learn from the Former?, Paper presented at APSA, Chicago, IL, 29 August-1 September 2013 [text via SSRN]

"How Many Climate Migrants Will There Be?," BBC News Magazine, 2 Sept. 2013 [text]

The Human Face of Permanent Climate-induced Displacement, Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences, Paper no. 21 (Bryant University, April 2013) [text]

Jane McAdam Speaks to ABC Tropical North about 'Climate Migrants' (Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, Aug. 2013) [access]
- Follow link to access interview.

Pacific Islands Forum Convenes in the Marshall Islands (Climate Law Blog, Sept. 2013) [text]

Upcoming event:

Climate Change, Migration and Legal Protection, 2 October 2013 [info]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

1 comment:

FM Librarian said...

Scott Leckie, director of Displacement Solutions, kindly provided the following information about the process that led to the development of the Peninsula Principles:

As brief background, Displacement Solutions (DS) has been engaged in the process leading up to the Peninsula Principles for several years, particularly during the past year. During the process, we have interviewed thousands of people, lawyers, activists, UN officials, government officials and others seeking to get the widest possible cross-section of views on the issues comprising climate displacement. After more than two dozen drafts, we placed a public draft of the draft principles online for several weeks for public comments, which also assisted the process and opened up the process to everyone with access to the internet. Finally, we called together an eminent group of some of the world's leading minds on the legal issues relating to climate displacement, which culminated in the final text of the Principles on 18 August. The list of those who participated in the meeting is:

Tamer Afifi, Egypt – United Nations University; Ingrid Boas, 
Netherlands – University of Amsterdam School of Law; Robin Bronen, United States – Alaska Institute for Justice; Bruce Burson, New Zealand – New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal; Bonnie Docherty, United States – Harvard University School of Law; Olivia Dun, Australia – PhD student, University of NSW; Khaled Hassine, Tunisia– International human rights expert; David Hodgkinson, Australia – University of Western Australia School of Law; Scott Leckie, Netherlands – Director and Founder, Displacement Solutions; Md. Arifur Rahman, Bangladesh – Director, Young Power for Social Action (YPSA); Ezekiel Simperingham, New Zealand – International human rights expert; Rick Towle, New Zealand – Regional Representative, UNHCR Regional Office for Australia, NZ, PNG and the Pacific