Roberta Cohen

Disasters and Displacement: Gaps in Protection

Natural disasters, particularly those related to climate change, are fast becoming a leading cause of forced displacement although conceptual, normative and institutional frameworks to provide human rights protection to the environmentally displaced 1 are not yet in place. This article discusses the human rights and protection dimensions of disaster-induced displacement, identifies the major challenges to protecting disaster victims, and proposes ways forward. The authors argue that while most environmentally displaced persons are expected to remain within their own countries, there is a lack of clarity about the status and protection needs of those uprooted by environmental degradation and other ‘slow-onset’ disasters as opposed to those displaced by ‘sudden-onset’ disasters. By far the biggest protection gap exists for those who cross borders. These individuals do not generally qualify as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, there is no normative framework to address their specific needs and vulnerabilities and States have not been willing to commit to more than temporary protection on an ad hoc basis. The need is now critical for new approaches to be developed for the environmentally displaced, including expanded normative and institutional frameworks, comprehensive national policies, national and international monitoring, rights training, and more effective ways of dealing with governments that fail to protect their populations.

Last Stand in Sudan

The African Union is saving lives and preventing atrocities in Darfur, but it needs help to reduce the violence and better protect civilians.

Nowhere to run no place to 'hide

Until recently the internally displaced were the exclusive responsibility of their own governments. They could be deported, starved to death, or exterminated while the international community stood by.

Disasters, Displacement and Protection: Challenges, Shortcomings and Ways Forward

Natural disasters have become a primary cause of forced migration, and the effects of climate change are expected to intensify such disasters and accelerate displacement rates in upcoming decades. Yet the conceptual, normative and organisational frameworks underpinning human rights protection for environmentally displaced persons remain underdeveloped. This chapter examines the need for human rights protection for environmental migrants; the challenges to providing this protection; and potential responses. While most persons uprooted by environmental disasters will remain within their own countries, entitled to the protections set out in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, there is a need for greater clarity regarding the status and protection requirements of those displaced by ‘slow onset’ disasters. But the largest protection gap pertains to environmentally displaced persons who cross international borders. Strengthening protection for those displaced by the effects of climate change must include clarifying and expanding normative and organisational frameworks; crafting comprehensive national protection policies; raising awareness of human rights protection; and pioneering more effective approaches for dealing with states that fail to protect their citizens.