Refugee

A Letter of Solidarity to Refugees

Rostyslav Savchyn via UNSPLASH

Rostyslav Savchyn via UNSPLASH

At the start of this global pandemic we told you SPOTLIGHT would highlight the particular threats, challenges, needs and gaps refugees and forcibly displaced populations face in this emergency, as well as the contributions and support they provide, in order to better illustrate the complexities of refugee vulnerability as a layered concept. We were glad to see we weren’t alone. Alexander Betts and others highlighted why refugees are an asset in the fight against the Coronavirus, and now this beautiful letter of solidarity out of Uganda, a country where refugees have more than answered the call when social distance measures, closed supply routes and borders became barriers to getting vital help to vulnerable communities. 

Now in our fifth month of this pandemic, longer in some parts, the authors rightly ask policymakers, who have fallen short where refugees and displaced communities are concerned: 

“How can you flee persecution if the closest border has been closed? How are you supposed to wash your hands when you don’t necessarily have access to clean water? How can you isolate yourself if you live in a crowded camp?

How can you survive during this lockdown without life-saving commodities? How can you seek protection against sexual and gender-based violence if you live under the same roof as your abuser? How can you provide for your families if you can’t go to work?”

Lacking answers, refugees have answered the call. We told you about Ugandan refugee-led organizations that are responding in both camps and cities. Like in the Nakivale Settlement, the Wakati Foundation has been employing refugees to sew and distribute masks, while also raising community awareness about the virus. In Arua, the Global Society Initiative for Peace and Democracy has been conducting hygiene and sanitation information campaigns to slow the spread of the virus. In the urban refugee center of Kampala, fears of the secondary economic problems the pandemic creates are acute as the lockdown restricts access to essential food and health needs. UNHCR acknowledges its struggle to meet  the needs of urban refugees and so again, refugee-led organization Hope for Children and Women Victims of Violence has been filling critical gaps through distribution of food and soap to over 400 refugees, while another refugee-led organization is distributing food and soap to 200 vulnerable households. 

How in Lebanon when pandemic restrictions limited refugee rights even further, it was refugees who stepped up to meet their communities needs, even as public sentiments turned against them, some even blaming them for the country’s financial woes. 

Now these Ugandan authors share even more examples of sheer courage and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. From Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, Uganda, Lebanon, France, Germany and more, refugees are filling critical gaps the international community is failing. 

Lest we blame this all on a virus, it's a good reminder that the virus has laid more bare preexisting structures of gross inequality, failed policies, neglect and forgotten crises all over the world, now at risk for even worse. And when that happens, no doubt refugees will answer the call yet again, but let’s hope when all is said and done, we give refugees their due and no longer sideline them as passive beneficiaries in a system of dependency. 

The 2016 World Humanitarian Summit “Grand Bargain” recognized people affected by crises as first responders, and yet, they still remain on the periphery. We agree with Betts and others: it's high time we stop doing that. (Observer)

For more solidarity check out our World Refugee Day Feature

The UN Is Sounding the Alarm on 'Climate Refugees' - We Weigh In

Markus Spiske/UNSPLASH

Markus Spiske/UNSPLASH

When UNHCR released its Global Trends report last week, not only did it contain alarming statistics like nearly 80 million people forcibly displaced in 2019, amounting to 1% of the world’s population or one out of every 97 people in the population, but it also contained climate change as one of the causes of that forced displacement. This was unprecedented for the UN Refugee Agency, which notes the risks that both extreme weather and long-term environmental changes pose to displacement with the “interplay between climate, conflict, hunger, poverty, and persecution creates increasingly complex emergencies.” UNHCR says it is particularly concerned about the “risk of climate-related displacement of people”... because “the reality is that climate change is forcing people around the world to leave their homes and even their countries. We’ve been working on displacement issues linked to climate change and disasters for many years, and we have long seen firsthand the devastating impact on people uprooted from their homes.” (Gizmodo Earther)

Analysis

It’s hugely significant that UNHCR made these connections between climate change and displacement and, even more, it is really welcome. Especially since a few of us have been making these connections for a while now. Much of the discourse around building policy on cross-border climate displacement has stalled under the premise that climate displacement will be largely internal. Even if that were true, we’ve always found that rather problematic since it tends to presume countries will be equipped to deal with the level of expected displacement and  overlooks the very real protection needs that even internal climate displaced people have. Furthermore, our experience has told us, people usually leave their homes as a last resort, and after repeated struggles. It’s also not unheard of to be repeatedly displaced either - sometimes internal displacement, then cross-border, if needs go unmet. 

Central American asylum-seekers at the US border are prime examples of nexus dynamics - that is those fleeing situations of violence or persecution, recognized under refugee law, that are interconnected to situations linked to climate change, where Dry Corridor residents in these countries have been affected by a near 6-year drought that has made over 2.5 million people severely food insecure. 

This recognition by UNHCR can go a long way in both urging and helping countries recognize that climate change is contributing to conditions that more and more people are fleeing each year, and for the thousands of people already dealing with this reality, this shift is very welcome indeed. 

In Today's News: Is Climate Finance 'Displacing' Aid?; What One Expert Overlooks in the Broad Details on Climate Migration (We Weigh In); By Not Recognizing 'Climate Refugees' Germany Signifies Need

Why Climate Funds May Be ‘Displacing’ Lifesaving Aid

Ten years ago at COP15, countries pledged $100 billion a year by 2020 to help countries least responsible for climate change fight its impacts. Receiving countries assumed the climate money would be in addition to development aid but a 2018 Oxfam study found most donors were counting their climate finance as part of their overseas development aid commitments, in the process underfunding humanitarian and development budgets needed to respond to disasters, fight poverty and vitally needed education, health and lifesaving programs. 

Yet, even with this redirection, funding for climate adaptation and mitigation has fallen below the $100 billion target according to the OECD, and Oxfam found that only 18 percent of the promised climate funds are reaching the countries that need it most. 

Funding continues to be one of the most contentious issues at each of the COP negotiations, where this past year, vulnerable countries’ requests to secure “loss and damage” financing for disasters went unmet. Most climate funds are focused on mitigation but countries most-at-risk need funding to adapt to the disaster risks fueled by climate change. (The New Humanitarian)

Analysis

The danger here is two-fold: not only are countries least responsible for climate change being left in the lurch in terms of the necessary aid to respond to the climate crisis, but in addition, they are as a result, being forced to resort to borrowing the money to rebuild after disasters, heightening their risks, poverty and further entrenching them in a cycle of ever deepening and widening poverty. 

How Should the World Respond to the Coming Wave of Climate Migrants?

Analysis

This is a policy editorial that mostly summarizes the state of play with respect to the plight of climate migrants and the current policy discourse based on the worst case climate migration models. The opinion piece does address the legal challenge that climate change falls outside the purview of protected refugee grounds under the 1951 Convention, but fails to include broader refugee definitions in the 1969 OAU Convention and the 1984 Cartagena Declaration. 

It also fails to include the recently adopted, albeit non-binding, UN Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees, respectively, which discuss environmental migration and further, UNHCR’s more recent position that refugee law frameworks may apply in situations where nexus dynamics are present - that is, situations where conflict or violence are interconnected to situations linked to climate change or disaster. 

Most notably, the author’s belief is that climate migration is voluntary, and while there is certainly a lack of data and full understanding yet on the topic, there are viable and numerous qualitative indicators to suggest that where climate migration interconnects with poverty, development and challenges to security, choice may not be a luxury afforded to many, and certainly not to everyone. (World Politics Review)

Germany Says it Will Not Grant Asylum to 'Climate Refugees'

Although a 2019 European Parliament briefing paper noted 26.4 million had been climate displaced since 2008 with ‘climate refugees’ expected to rise and developing countries had requested the EU bloc grant climate migrants refugee status, Germany stated it would not recognize the “flight from climatic conditions and changes' as a reason for asylum” and that "people in third countries who leave their homes solely because of the negative consequences of climate change are not refugees in the sense of the Geneva Refugee Convention under current international treaty law." (EuroNews)

Analysis

Of course it’s well established, understood even, that the 1951 Refugee Convention adopted by Germany and many other EU states will not protect those who cross borders on account of climate change that it almost renders such an official decree unnecessary. However, recent developments by UNHCR to discuss where refugee law intersects at nexus dynamics, scenarios whereby certain conflicts could overlap with climate-induced situations, such as famine, and the pressure applied by other states and civil society, could signify the magnitude of the need, concern for protection gaps and growing security needs inherent within climate displacement.






In Today's News: Climate Change Hits Women Hardest; How Should We Respond to Climate Migrants (Analysis); Somalia Ratifies Kampala Convention

CLIMATE CHANGE HITS WOMEN HARDEST, REPORT FINDS

In a new report, the Irish NGO Trócaire found weather-related disasters are likely to kill women and girls 14 times more than boys, increase girls chances of being trafficked 30 percent and put women at increased risk of violence during crises and displacement. The report found corporate human rights violations impact women more disproportionately and looking at indigenous, environmental and land rights defenders, Trócaire found them to be at increased and growing risk of violence, evidenced by the fact that in 2019, almost half of the 137 attacks on human rights defenders were against indigenous women in rural communities. (NRC Online)

How Should the World Respond to the Coming Wave of Climate Migrants?

Analysis

This is a policy editorial that mostly summarizes the state of play with respect to the plight of climate migrants and the current policy discourse based on the worst case climate migration models. The opinion piece does address the legal challenge that climate change falls outside the purview of protected refugee grounds under the 1951 Convention, but fails to include broader refugee definitions in the 1969 OAU Convention and the 1984 Cartagena Declaration. 

It also fails to include the recently adopted, albeit non-binding, UN Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees, respectively, which discuss environmental migration and further, UNHCR’s more recent position that refugee law frameworks may apply in situations where nexus dynamics are present - that is, situations where conflict or violence are interconnected to situations linked to climate change or disaster. 

Most notably, the author’s belief is that climate migration is voluntary, and while there is certainly a lack of data and full understanding yet on the topic, there are viable and numerous qualitative indicators to suggest that where climate migration interconnects with poverty, development and challenges to security, choice may not be a luxury afforded to many, and certainly not to everyone. (World Politics Review)

Somalia Ratification of Kampala Convention Crucial Step for Millions Displaced by Conflict, Violence, and Climate Shocks

With 2.6 million people uprooted by violent clashes and climatic shock in recent times, Somalia became the 30th African state to ratify the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, the first-ever binding treaty dealing with internal displacement. In a press release, the International Committee of the Red Cross commended Somalia’s commitment to the rights of thousands of Somali’s displaced by both conflict and climate change. (ReliefWeb)

In Today's News: Unparalleled Displacement; Bangladesh's Sundarbans Region Submerged; Europe's Unknown Climate Migrants; ‘Empty Spain’s’ Climate Migrants; Climate Change & Global Security

Editorial: The Global Crisis We’re Forgetting About — 71 million People Displaced by War and Unrest

Beyond the coronavirus, the world faces a historic humanitarian displacement crisis hitherto unseen. From Syria and sub-Saharan Africa to Myanmar and Central America, where corruption and economic hardship, fueled by climate change, has caused thousands to flee. The problems are political as well, as refugee resettlement and aid outgrow the need, and stabilization efforts receive tepid support and are outpaced with the new threats imposed by climate change, now worsened by insufficient global threshold agreements and the failure of US policies and leadership to curb the production and use of fossil fuels. (LA Times)

Bangladesh is Already Living With the Consequences of Climate Change

One of the most densely populated countries in the world is also ranked seventh in the Global Climate Risk Index 2020. The population of the Sundarbans, in the Bay of Bengal, are experiencing rapidly rising sea level - 1.5 times faster than the global average - and river erosion to submerge entire villages. 

Over the last decade, 700,000 people annually lost their homes, while 10 to 13 million are expected to be forced to move, likely to the capital Dhaka, by 2050. For those there now, having lost everything, new hardships are presented in Dhaka, a city on the verge of collapse from overcrowding. 

Although the author refers to these displaced as ‘climate refugees,’ they are in fact internally displaced persons (IDPs) and thus fall under the care of the Bangladeshi government, and with services unmet, these IDPs find refuge in slums and abysmal working conditions in the city’s thousands of factories. The social consequences of climate displacement are immense, one such being the high rates of child marriage - the fourth highest in the world - as documented in this Human Rights Watch report. (Equal Times)

Extreme Weather Exiles: How Climate Change is Turning Europeans into Migrants

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, disaster displacement knows no economic boundaries. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, France and Germany have had the highest number of climate displacements on the continent and Moldova is the most climate-vulnerable country in Europe. 

Climate displacements have doubled in the last four years from 43 in 2016 to 100 in 2019, and already, Europe has recorded four storms this year by only February 2020. 

Over the past decade there have been 700,000 classified disasters. One expert contends that one disaster displacement may not equate to population displacement, but repeat disasters can push people to relocate permanently. 

Most displaced don’t seem to realize they are, in fact, climate migrants, and the lack of clear terminology or official designations, adds to the confusion. This is also in keeping with UN findings, where migrants tend to underestimate the extent of climate change in their lives, rather, linking their plights to poverty and overlooking the root causes behind disasters.  

One town in France, La Faute-sur-Mer, sued the town’s mayor following 2010’s Storm Xynthia, but the lawyer and former environment minister says the continued challenge is proving climate change as the sole causality and points to the case as a strong example of the need for stronger legislation to protect citizens from climate-related disasters. 

In Europe, climate migration can feel voluntary, but is it? The IOM states environmental migration is sometimes forced, sometimes voluntary, but most likely, somewhere in between. 

“When you are forced to do something because it's the right thing to do, it’s not the same as making a decision because you want to.”

Anne Birault 

Displaced resident (La Faute-sur-Mer, France)

In this regard, Europe lags behind Africa, where the African Union has adopted the Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons or what is commonly known as the ‘Kampala Convention,’ which acknowledges climate change as man-made with the potential to generate disaster displacements. 

Europe, on the other hand, still tracks the links between migration, climate change and environmental degradation only in terms of receiving migrants, and not the displacements it generates internally. 

This clearly is more than a problem of under-reporting. It also leads to a lack of data, lack of understanding and a lack of analysis of the needs, gaps and response plans vital to safeguard rights and security, and that, ultimately, leaves us all unprotected. (EuroNews)

How Fire Turned a Goat Herder into a ‘Climate Migrant’ in Empty Spain

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Spain led Europe with the largest number of climate displacements in 2019. One such person is Álvaro García Río-Miranda, a 30-year-old goat herder in the northern valleys of Sierra de Gata - a heavily depopulated rural area isolated by a chain of mountains on one side and Portugal on the other, which suffered a devastating wildfire in 2015. 

“Empty Spain” constitutes 53 percent of the country’s territory, which is inhabited by only 5 percent of its population. 

That fire left Álvaro unemployed after it killed his goats, following the stress of the fire and lack of food. Unable to insure his herd, he was forced to earn a living as a shepherd in France and Switzerland, but he was not the only one forced to leave. 

Other farmers, similarly devastated by a 2003 fire, lost their crops and animals and were forced to leave, while others who stayed struggled with a burned landscape for years to come, made worse by increased heat and less rain. 

The situation echoes findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who warn of expected temperature increases in the Mediterranean with more pronounced droughts and drier vegetation, susceptible to fire. (EuroNews)

How Is Climate Change Affecting Global and National Security?

John Conger, Director of the Center for Climate and Security points out that climate change affects policy on several fronts: economics, health and national security. Extreme weather events will generate increased needs for humanitarian assistance and disaster response, while also generating a shift in geopolitical stability that impacts food security, water scarcity, economic displacement and migration. 

He cautions that though certain regions have generated more attention up to now, no region will be immune to the impacts of climate change, pointing to the underreporting of drought in Central America as a driver for migration out of the region. Pakistan, he adds, is another example, of a water-stressed nation that has generated new conflicts between rural and urban areas as a result of climate change. (Brink News)

In Today's News: UN's WMO Says Climate Change Worsening; Women & Girls Adversely Impacted by Climate Displacement in Bangladesh; Experts Discuss Morality of Climate Displacement Claims & More

Flagship UN Study Shows Accelerating Climate Change on Land, Sea and in the Atmosphere

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization’s Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019, showed the effects on socio-economic development, health, migration, displacement, food security and land and marine ecosystems. The report also showed that following years of steady decline, hunger is on the rise, driven by a changing climate and extreme weather events, giving rise to displacement, conflict and violence notably in the Horn of Africa, where it suffered droughts and then unusually heavy rains, factoring in the worst locust outbreak in the past 25 years. Globally, 6.7 million people were displaced due to natural hazards, and the report forecasts internal displacement of 22 million throughout the world in 2019, up from 17.2 million in 2018.

Can Renewables Give Climate-Displaced Women in Bangladesh a New Beginning? 

Miriam is one amongst the 1.2 million people the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates are displaced each year in Bangladesh, and she has been climate-displaced multiple times. Women and girls are adversely impacted, and many, leaving children behind, turn to textile factories for long hours and little pay, gaining skills but lacking capital to set up small businesses close by that allow family unity and year-round work. Renewable solar energy programs run by the government could be the missing piece, if only women were allowed access. Now the UN seeks to address that imbalance by putting women at the helm of climate-resilient livelihoods for vulnerable communities. 

What Comes After Fossil Fuels?

In a conversation in The New Yorker, climate activist Bill McKibben and journalist Vann R. Newkirk, II, who is looking at the legacy of Hurricane Katrina, Newkirk states it’s time to rethink the “refugee” framework to view climate displaced as having a legitimate and moral claim against policy makers responsible for global warming and who stand to profit from their displacement.