Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dspace.lib.uom.gr/handle/2159/27418
Author: Τουφεξή, Ιωάννα
Title: Environmental refugees under international law: towards a legal recognition
Date Issued: 2022
Department: Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών στα Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα και Μεταναστευτικές Σπουδές
Supervisor: Αναγνωστοπούλου, Δέσποινα
Abstract: Every year there is a huge number of people forced to leave their homes and move due to environmentally related factors, either anthropogenic or natural ones. While climate change has already started to affect more and more the environment, there is no clear scientific evidence how and to what extent this change will happen. Consequently, it is far from challenging to establish a direct link between the climaterelated event, climate change and human mobility. The goal of this master thesis is to analyze from a social- legal approach the movement of environmentally displaced persons and the possibility of their protection under International Refugee Law, International Human Rights Law and International Climate Change Law. Special attention will be given to the populations of the small island states as an obvious case of environmentally forced movement related to climate change. At a first level, there will be an analysis of the recognition and possible protection of environmentally displaced persons as refugees under the 1951 Geneva Convention related to the Refugee Status. After the presentation of all the scientific findings and the first conclusion that International Refugee Law doesn’t provide a form of protection to these populations, the analysis of international human rights law, practice and jurisprudence is deemed imperative in order for an holistic approach to this scientific question. The second fundamental result of this analysis will conclude that the intersection between environmental degradation and human rights is indisputable and the application of the principle of non-refoulement under International Human Rights Law offers an option for protection and could operate as a shield towards the arbitrary violation of fundamental human rights of these people. At a second level, an in-depth analysis of regional law and specific case studies will be attempted in order to acquire a holistic approach of both the existence and operation of different legal systems, with a focus on regional law applied in the wide African region, as well as analyzing specific examples of migratory movements of the last decades taken place in the African continent. Τhis study constitutes an attempt to end up with possible scientifically based recommendations and proposals in order to become part of a future scientific contribution to the protection of environmentally displaced persons.
Keywords: Environmental or climate refugees
Environmental degradation
Climate change
Human rights
Non-refoulement
Information: Διπλωματική εργασία--Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2022.
Rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Διεθνές
Appears in Collections:ΔΠΜΣ στα Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα και Μεταναστευτικές Σπουδές (Μ)

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