Canada Court Rules US 'Not Safe' for Asylum Seekers

Morning Brew via UNSPLASH

Canada’s federal court has invalidated its Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States in place since 2004 because it has determined that the US violates the human rights of refugees. An STCA requires an asylum-seeker to seek protection in the first safe country they reach. Under this agreement, both countries have been able to turn back asylum-seekers attempting to enter at official crossings because they each recognized the other as safe places to seek refuge. 

In a 60-page ruling, Judge Ann Marie McDonald ruled the deal as a violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights that prevents the government from impeding the right to life, liberty and security. The deal was thus declared unconstitutional because of the US government’s practice of imprisoning migrants and asylum-seekers, citing the conditions asylum-seekers face in detention, including the lack of access to adequate health care and legal counsel.

Judge McDonald found the experience of Nedeira Mustefa particularly compelling, a Muslim asylum-seeker from Ethiopia. After Canada returned her to the United States, Mustefa was detained and placed in solitary confinement, where despite telling guards of her religious beliefs, she believes she was fed pork, was placed in solitary confinement, which she said was “a terrifying, isolating and psychologically traumatic experience”

The judge said “Canada cannot turn a blind eye to the consequences that befell Ms. Mustefa in its efforts to adhere to the STCA. The evidence clearly demonstrates that those returned to the US by Canadian officials are detained as a penalty”

The court ruling is suspended for six months to give Parliament time to respond, which it can appeal, and litigants could potentially appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Otherwise, the ruling is set to go into effect on January 22. 

The agreement has been under fire in Canada since the election of Donald Trump, who has actively sought to limit asylum, refugee resettlement and immigration in the United States, as well as detain and separate migrants. With increasing arrivals of Central American asylum-seekers who are fleeing violence, gang violence, crime but also the impacts of climate change and climate variability that has exacerbated poverty and left many parts food insecure, the US has pursued and entered into Safe Third Country Agreements with several Central American countries. 

University of California, Hastings College of Law professor Karen Musalo, who testified on behalf of litigants, called the decision “an indictment of the inhumanity of the American detention system for asylum-seekers.”

We could not agree more. 

(BBC, Washington Post, NY Times)

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We have written extensively about asylum conditions in the United States and the situation of Central American asylum-seekers, including the climate conditions in their countries of origin. For further reading, here’s one such Feature.  

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Micronesia ‘Climate Refugees’ Increasingly Relocate to Oregon

Marek Okon via UNSPLASH

Those following climate change news might already know that the 600 islands comprising the Federated States of Micronesia are waging a battle with climate change: mainly rising sea levels. What many may not know is that, outside of Hawaii, Portland is one of the most popular places for Micronesians to relocate in the United States. Whether it be in search of better prospects, reconnections, a changing environment at home or other, many of these new Portland residents worry about the seas overtaking their ancestral homes.

No one seems to know for sure where the connection to Oregon began, but some Micronesians believe, as is usual, a small group of elders who attended Eastern Oregon University might be the diaspora connection. 

Now in beautiful testimonials, these Micronesians in Portland speak wistfully of a life once spent on beautiful Pacific Ocean islands and how many, not unlike refugees we have formally resettled all over the world, struggle to maintain their cultural heritage in their newfound homes. 

Dexter Moluputo, who grew up on the island Houk, measuring just over one square mile, says life was spent fishing and growing crops, just as his ancestors had for centuries. He says “over there you don’t work for money. Just to eat.” 

Now thousands of miles away in a climate and culture vastly different from his home, he thinks longingly of foods found only at home and the precarious plight of his homeland, which could soon become uninhabitable, not only because of rising seas, but because stronger typhoons have spread salt all over the island, rendering crop cultivation almost impossible. 

Berely Mack from the Micronesian island of Kapingamarangi says he returned to his home island three years ago in shock, dismay and the undeniable proof of the impacts of climate change when he experienced the water levels at higher ground. 

These Pacific Islanders worry for their homelands, worry for their generational lost heritage and the steady sense of disorientation that has come with the loss of living by and off the ocean in this enforced need to transplant roots. But many are forging ahead, bringing their food, culture and way of life with them to their new homes, while worries for their ancestral homes rise, just like its seas. (Portland Tribune) 

Note:

Although the media and this journalist uses the term ‘climate refugee’, as do we but for different reasons, including to provoke a conversation along lines of protection, justice and equality - see “The Problem” - these Micronesians are not ‘refugees’ in a legal sense since climate change or environmental degradation is not a protected refugee ground in international law. Regardless of terminology though, this article more than demonstrates what is at stake, and beyond forced displacement, as with all displaced people, including refugees, what is lost when one is forced into a life of exile from one’s homeland.

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Citing Climate Change, Providence City Council Commits to Becoming Anti-Racist

Michael Denning via UNSPLASH

Two Councilmembers introduced a Resolution last week that prioritizes Providence city funds in public support structures in accordance with the “Just Providence Framework and the city’s “Climate Justice Plan.” Recognizing that climate change impacts marginalized communities disproportionately, the Office of Sustainability in partnership with the Racial and Environmental Justice Committee have pledged to create a plan to address the interconnectedness of public health, racism, climate and environmental sustainability. The two offices will work with communities to make sure that plans measure the intersection of race and class as an indicator in environmental justice assessments. 

Based on what we see here, we at Climate Refugees think this is exactly the necessary bold, accountable and out-of-the-box thinking that underscores a movement.

““We cannot build a just and equitable society without addressing the impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable community members…“”

— Councilmember Nirva LaFortune

The Resolution went even further to call out the many ways throughout history that the city had failed its residents, including slavery. One Councilmember called the resolution a “movement seeking to rectify policies and structures that failed to acknowledge Black, indigenous and communities of color in climate and other environmental-related initiatives. It is up to all of us to work together to make sustainability and environmental justice a guiding principle in addressing climate change.”

The resolution listed specific times when the city had failed residents of color:

• The institution of slavery being Providence’s principal source of income;

• The displacement of indigenous peoples through violence and lies;

• The race riots of Hardscrabble and Snow Town leading to the formation of the Providence Police Department;

• The displacement of Black and Indigenous communities to build industrial sites, highways, and roads;

• The defunding of schools whose students are majority Black, Latinx, and Southeast Asian;

• The over-policing of Black, Indigenous, and People of color neighborhoods;

• The tradition of placing toxic sites in and near Black, Indigenous, people of color neighborhoods;

The resolution commits the City to three ideas:

• Transforming the City into an anti-racist institution by following the “Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization” by continuing to support and invest in structures, programs, policies that align with the Just Providence Framework and Climate Justice Plan;

• Supporting the Office of Sustainability in the FY21 budget to improve the lives of Providence’s BIPOC communities in order to mitigate long-term climate threats and reduce the loss of life with solutions that result in clean air and water, climate-resilient low-income housing, community health, environmental justice, youth programs, and economic justice; and

• Following the Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership outlined in the Climate Justice plan and moving towards collaborative governance decision-making processes that center those who are most impacted by the current health, environment, and economic crises.

We’d like to applaud Providence on its courageous and visionary leadership and hope other cities, in the US and globally, will be inspired to follow suit to recognize and respond to the many interconnected ways in which climate change will cut deeply across sectors and marginalized people. (Uprise RI)

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A Letter of Solidarity to Refugees

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)

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For more solidarity check out our World Refugee Day Feature

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Climate Change Would Cause 14 Cuban Settlements to Disappear by 2050

Alex Meier via UNSPLASH

A study conducted by Cuban scientists has found rising sea levels in Cuba could displace as many as 41,300 people over the next 30 years. The scientists studied data collected from Cuba’s meteorological coastal stations and the database on tropical cyclones of the US National Hurricane Center, among others, calculating how far the sea would advance in the event of flooding caused by strong winds in four coastal settlements: Punta Alegre, Playa La Herradura, Gibara and Baracoa.

Lying right in the path of Caribbean hurricanes with hundreds of kilometers of low-lying coastal populations, Cuba regards itself at greater risk to climate change. After Hurricane Irma devastated parts of Cuba in 2018, Cuba found renewed commitment to implement a long-discussed 100-year plan known as Tarea Vida or project life to protect itself from climate change but a lack of investment in the plan is then showed how little progress had been made. 

The project is designed with the intent to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities and bans construction of new homes in threatened coastal areas, relocates populations deemed to be living in risky sea-level rise areas, plans to overhaul the agricultural system away from saltwater-contaminated areas, shore up coastal defenses and restore degraded habitats. 

After Hurricane Irma, 40 families in Palmarito - the first population relocations inland - took place in October 2017. While other communities may not need to be moved for some time to come, after Irma, Cuba embarked on a coastal community education campaign on climate change, which many having lived through, understood firsthand. (On Cuba News & Science Mag)

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Facing the Double Burden of Climate Change and Conflict

Patrick Schneider via UNSPLASH

In its new report, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) finds people living in conflict zones are adversely affected by climate change. Of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change, 12 are currently at war. 

Conflict-affected communities who already face extreme stress now face further hardships by climate shocks, and state institutions, essential social services, social cohesion and even freedom of movement, which can help offset impacts to livelihood, are now profoundly disturbed by conflict.

In turn, conflict often has impacts on the natural environment as well via direct attacks or damage through warfare, which contaminate water, soil, land and air. 

The International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warns that by 2050, 200 million people could be humanitarian aid dependent every year, which is double the current number. It’s clear the international community fails to meet that need now, strained further by the global pandemic and rising poverty, and no stretch of the imagination is needed to envision what the growing impacts of climate change could yield. 

They rightly highlight the significant climate finance gap between stable and fragile countries, where at present, the bulk of capital is used to support efforts to reduce carbon emissions, which is essential, but simultaneous action is needed to help communities adapt to climate change.

From Mali to Iraq, civilians in conflict zones are doubly impacted by climate extremes. Despite being the most impacted and having the least contribution to global warming, communities hardest hit are the most neglected by global climate action. ICRC urges humanitarian actors and beyond in the international community to make significant systemic and structural changes, increase political will, good governance, investment, technical knowledge and calls for a shift in mindsets to offset climate risks and protect people from a situation far worse to come. (Reuters)

For more on the nexus between climate change, conflict and displacement, read our field report from the Lake Chad Basin.

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