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Resolution 1655 (2009)
Environmentally induced migration and displacement: a 21st-century challenge
1. Migration
– both internal and cross-border – is one of the oldest strategies
for dealing with a degradation of environmental conditions. However,
the increase in the magnitude and geographical scale of environmental transformation
caused or exacerbated by both climate change and human activity
have led many experts in academic circles and in the international
community to refer to environmentally induced migration as a new type
of phenomenon and a new challenge for the 21st century.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly recognises that natural disasters
and environmental degradation will increasingly determine the nature
of human mobility as well as its humanitarian and security dimensions,
which will need to be urgently assessed.
3. It notes with concern the drastic estimates predicting unmanageable
migration flows due to environmental problems. Already today, over
30 million people worldwide are displaced because of the increase
in desertification, droughts, rising sea levels, industrial accidents,
major infrastructure projects and extreme weather events, and this
number is rising sharply. Alarmingly, this figure already exceeds
the number of those forced to flee because of armed conflicts and
persecution.
4. The people who are the most in danger belong to vulnerable
groups in the least developed countries whose capacity to prevent,
adapt to and reduce the effects of climate change is extremely poor.
This includes those residing in low-lying costal areas and areas
of considerable overpopulation. Europe is not immune to the consequences
of climate change and environmentally induced migration.
5. Environmentally induced migration can rarely be attributed
to one cause. The cause-consequence relationships are increasingly
complex and multifactorial. A growing number of people flee for
multiple reasons including discrimination and human rights abuses,
environmental degradation, competition for scarce resources and
economic hardship caused by dysfunctional states. Some leave voluntarily
and some flee because there is no other choice. Others may make
the decision to move before they have no other choice but to flee.
The different degrees of force and the complex set of influencing
factors blur the traditional concepts of migration and displacement,
creating confusion among the academic and international communities
about whether to talk about “migration” or “displacement” in the
case of people fleeing disasters and environmental degradation.
6. The interaction between the environment and migration is a
two-way process: after sudden- or slow-onset environmental disasters
that lead to both internal and cross-border movements of people,
massive migration for environmental reasons may in turn affect environmental
conditions both in areas of origin and destination and the transit
routes in between, notably when large concentrations of people are
forced to seek refuge in other ecologically fragile areas. The Assembly
deems it urgent to develop a better understanding of the net impact
of migration on the environment in areas of concern.
7. Migration can also lead to positive and proactive diversification
and can be a development strategy that households, individuals and
sometimes whole communities adopt to improve their lives and reduce
risk and vulnerability. Mass migration can however have negative
impacts, including escalating humanitarian crises, rapid urbanisation,
associated slum growth and stagnant development.
8. One of the most fundamental issues in climate change and environmentally
induced migration is that it is a global process, not a local crisis.
Hence, it is the responsibility of the global community and not
only that of local and national authorities to engage in proactive
intervention. Adequate measures for prevention, adaptation and risk
reduction need to be taken by the international community in order
for “hotspot” countries to reduce their vulnerability to the impact
of environmental disasters and manage the evolution of environmental
processes.
9. Mass population flows, caused by scarcity of resources coupled
with state mismanagement and poor governance, can lead to instability
and provoke conflict situations. Such conflicts could result in
increased refugee flows and internal population displacement and,
more generally, could reduce global political stability and human
security. The Assembly believes that, in order to avoid such negative
scenarios, Europe should be at the forefront in addressing the growing
and shared challenge of environmentally induced migration and displacement.
10. Vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly, persons
with disabilities and indigenous peoples in the poorest countries
are exposed to cumulative challenges and require special consideration.
The elderly leave their home areas and have few possibilities of
adaptation. Children are cut off from their ethnic and cultural
environments and, in many cases, from everyday communication in
their mother tongues, which is an important factor in their upbringing
and their understanding of the world. The Assembly particularly observes
that, due to traditional female roles and activities in many societies,
women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than
men. It underlines the importance of recognising the gender-specific
impact of climate change from the outset of policy setting.
11. The majority of migratory movements prompted by climate change
and environmental degradation are expected to occur within countries,
although increased cross-border movement of people will also occur.
The Assembly maintains that all the affected persons, whether or
not they leave their country, need to be properly protected as regards
their human, social and economic rights. Furthermore, this protection
should include reliance on effective support from the international
community if national support is lacking or insufficient.
12. The Assembly is concerned about the lack of consensus within
the international community as regards the applicable international
legal terminology concerning human mobility associated with environmental disasters
and degradation. The variety of terms used interchangeably today
hinders much-needed progress on the recognition and legal protection
of environmental migrants and displaced persons.
13. The difficulty arises from different approaches to the concept
of “migration”, which itself lacks a universal definition. Humanitarian
organisations advocate the need to maintain a distinction between
cross-border migration and internal displacement, as well as voluntary
and forced movements, in fear of undermining the existing categories
they are mandated to protect. They argue that the definition of
internally displaced persons as stipulated in the 1998 United Nations
Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement already includes persons or
groups who have been forced or compelled to flee or leave their
homes or places of habitual residence as a result of, or in order
to avoid, natural or man-made disasters.
14. Various agencies focusing on broader population and development
issues, on the other hand, prefer to talk about “environmental migration”
as an overarching concept which includes all persons who have an environmental
factor as the major motivation for movement. They maintain that
migration includes both international and internal, voluntary and
forced categories of movement, and everything in between.
15. The Assembly welcomes the recent efforts undertaken by the
informal United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee to establish
commonly accepted terminology and concepts. From its own perspective,
it sees the need to cover the full range of human mobility caused
by environmental factors implying any length of time and degree
of possibility of return, while upholding the universally adopted
protection standards prescribed in international law and normative
frameworks.
16. The Assembly observes that whereas there exists a large body
of well-established international, regional and national legal instruments,
conventions and norms to protect the rights of people forcibly displaced
by conflict and persecution, and to some extent by natural disasters
or conflicts over resources, many gaps remain in the existing protection
framework. Particularly for those considered to have moved due to
gradual environmental degradation, there may be normative and operational
protection gaps, nationally and internationally. In addition, when
it comes to the small island states that risk becoming submerged,
there may be a serious gap in the existing international treaties
on statelessness.
17. Whereas these gaps need to be more thoroughly researched,
and while emphasising the need to recognise existing protection
instruments (for example, for environmentally displaced persons
under the Guiding Principles), the Assembly observes that there
is no legal framework or defined policy that would cover the full
scope of environmentally induced migration in the widest sense of
the term. It therefore calls upon international organisations active
in this field to consider the elaboration of a specific framework
for the recognition and protection of environmental migrants, either
in a separate convention or as part of multilateral environmental
treaties, or both.
18. Alternatively, the Assembly encourages the respective United
Nations agencies to consider extending the Guiding Principles to
include persons displaced by gradual environmental degradation,
while in parallel creating a similar synthesis, in the form of principles,
of existing international law on external displacement.
19. In this context, and in particular with reference to its Recommendation 1631 (2003) on internal displacement in Europe, the Assembly expresses
its continued support of the humanitarian action and normative frameworks
developed over the last decade to protect internally displaced persons
through the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Ten years
after the adoption of this unique source of guidance for providing
assistance and protection to these people, it is time to question
whether the moment has come to enhance its impact not only by ensuring
that its principles are enshrined in national legislation but also
by creating a binding instrument, as is presently being done by
the African Union.
20. The Assembly remains concerned by the fact that there is not
a single international organisation today that explicitly focuses
on the problems and protection of people moving or having to move
their places of habitual residence mainly or exclusively for environmental
reasons. It recognises the leading role that the United Nations
agencies, particularly the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (for example in the humanitarian protection cluster), have
to play in providing protection and humanitarian assistance to those fleeing
environmental disasters.
21. In addition to humanitarian action, the Assembly encourages
the establishment of an effective co-ordination structure that would
pull the various international agencies and stakeholders together.
To this end, it suggests that a co-ordinating commission for environmental
migration be created with a mission to co-ordinate the work of international
organisations that focus on different aspects of the problem of environmentally
induced migration, including through risk reduction, humanitarian
response, adaptation and development.
22. The Assembly regrets that, when natural disasters occur, consequent
environmental displacement and migration do not figure in disaster
statistics. In the absence of an overarching organisation to collect
and assemble statistics on non-conflict displacement, it urges the
international humanitarian community and all countries that fall
victim to natural disasters to include – to the extent possible
– the internally displaced and cross-border migrants in disaster
statistics.
23. The adaptation policies aimed at the protection of health
and livelihoods of developing countries’ populations are essential
in dealing with the consequences of climate change that have become
unavoidable. Such policies must be strengthened and supported through
international development assistance.
24. In the light of the above, the Assembly calls upon its member
states to:
24.1. support the adoption
of a clearly defined and inclusive working definition that covers
all forms of movement, from voluntary to forced, and includes the
full range of human mobility caused by environmental factors to
be applied by state institutions and humanitarian organisations
involved in the assistance to and effective protection of those
concerned; this definition should be consistent with international
and regional standards and recognise the different protection needs
and rights of those affected;
24.2. take adequate measures to reduce the vulnerability of
developing countries to the impacts of environmental disasters and
manage the evolution of environmental processes;
24.3. undertake a comprehensive study, including primary data
collection, and develop policies assessing the complex interaction
of environmental change, migration, displacement and conflict;
24.4. contribute, through active participation in the work of
the international organisations dealing with this issue, to the
investigation of existing gaps in law and protection mechanisms
with a view to the eventual elaboration of a new international convention
providing internationally assured protection to people displaced
because of environmental degradation and natural and man-made disasters
when return is impossible;
24.5. pre-empt the work at international level by elaborating
national legislation that would recognise environmental migrants
and their protection needs not only through the principle of non-refoulement under Articles 2
and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), but
also through subsidiary protection, for example granting them a
status of temporary humanitarian resident or a permanent status
in case of impossibility of return;
24.6. promote multidisciplinary research involving climate science,
geography, migration, development and energy studies, disaster studies,
environmental studies, social cohesion and health with a view to improved
understanding and recognition of the links between the movement
of people and environmental factors;
24.7. promote policy coherence at national and international
levels among migration, development and humanitarian policies and
adaptation policies to climate change, including by supporting the
inclusion of migration and displacement consequences of climate
change in the successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);
24.8. take into account a gender perspective when elaborating
national and international policies and protection frameworks on
environmentally induced migration.
25. The Assembly further calls upon the European Union to take
the above into consideration when elaborating its comprehensive
immigration policy strategy. This strategy is needed at European,
regional, national and local levels. It should improve risk anticipation
and management and disaster response, offer adequate protection
to the victims of climate and environmental disruptions and provide
instruments for compensation and resettlement. It should also encourage
awareness raising for the populations and authorities concerned.
26. In particular, the Assembly encourages the European Union
to use the ongoing amendment process outlined in its Policy Plan
on Asylum for better addressing the protection gap in cross-border
environmental displacement. Finnish and Swedish legislation and
case law should be examined to see whether they could serve as examples
of best practice or even models for a new sub-paragraph explicitly
recognising cross-border environmentally displaced persons in Europe.
27. The Assembly further calls upon the European Union to create
an appropriate system of funding, at European level, to support
prevention and adaptation strategies, development and migration
management projects, as well as improved humanitarian response.
28. The Assembly is convinced that the time to address the dangerous
degradation of the environment, including climate change, is now.
Action for this must be co-ordinated and swift: policy makers, the
scientific community, civil society and other actors – at both national
and international levels – must seek common solutions for those
people who are currently, or who may soon be, forced to migrate
in order to seek safe and sustainable existences.