Protection

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US Rhetoric on Climate Change and Migration So Far Not Matched by Action, Leaving Many Vulnerable

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US Rhetoric on Climate Change and Migration So Far Not Matched by Action, Leaving Many Vulnerable

Last summer, the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) announced a “new approach to address the impacts of climate change on migration and displacement”. The announcement emphasized the importance of developing “humane policies” and outlined the four principal objectives of the US in addressing the impacts of climate change on migration and displacement. While a promising sign, so far this “new approach” has resulted in little substantive change, all while the US struggles to implement coherent and effective immigration and climate policy.

UNHCR Official: “Good Case to Be Made” for Climate Refugees Protocol

UNHCR Official: “Good Case to Be Made” for Climate Refugees Protocol

Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs said recently that while opening up the 1951 Refugee Convention to reform would be a risky step backwards, there was a “good case to be made” that a new protocol on climate refugees should be introduced. 

The comments from one of UNHCR’s most senior officials come just a few months after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change highlighted the apparent reluctance of UN agencies on refugees and migration  to provide a total assessment of the number of people displaced internationally as a result of climate change. In that report, Special Rapporteur Fry explicitly called for an optional protocol to the 1951 Convention, commenting that it would be logical for UNHCR to administer such a protocol in coordination with IOM and other relevant bodies. 

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Climate Change Forcing Many to Flee Honduras, Highlighting Need for Protection

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Climate Change Forcing Many to Flee Honduras, Highlighting Need for Protection

Following an official visit to Honduras, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, is sounding the alarm about how climate change impacts are pushing many people to leave the Central American country.

Fry found that communities are facing prolonged droughts, severe flooding events, and coastal erosion and inundation due to climate change. These impacts are “forcing people to leave their homes and seek more sustainable livelihoods” elsewhere in order to avoid starvation and a lack of safe drinking water. Industries that provided stable livelihoods just a few years ago are now being swallowed by rising seas, creating “‘ghost communities with only old people left’”. In one Dry Corridor community the Special Rapporteur visited, drought has forced 80% of residents to leave Honduras, given how limited livelihood options are elsewhere in the country. 

Following Hurricane Devastation in Central America, Experts Weigh in on Migration & US Protection

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies report over 4.3 million Central Americans - including 3 million Hondurans - have been impacted by Hurricane Eta alone, which struck Nicaragua on November 3rd. Those numbers rose when Hurricane Iota struck two weeks later, again in Nicaragua on November 16th.

The Red Cross America’s division described conditions as a "triple emergency” in Honduras and Guatemala of: hurricane Eta, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the years-long drought that has deeply impacted agriculture, making even subsistence agriculture, impossible across large sections of the region. The Red Cross says it is now readying for internal displacement, as well as migration across borders, as a result.