Longtime readers know that a few years ago I posted some stories (see our ‘climate refugee‘ category) about the on-going conflict within the UN “community” about changing the definition of refugees to incorporate those people the “sustainability” movement claims will be flowing by the millions as the sea levels rise!
The whole thing is so silly and just a clear ploy for the first world to pay big bucks to the third world, or to open ones’ borders to the teaming (economic migrant) masses. But, I see the pressure is still on to broaden the definition of refugee to include anyone running from the weather.
By the way, this is the definition of a refugee as set by the UN Refugee Convention in 1951:
The 1951 Refugee Convention establishing UNHCR spells out that a refugee is someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
The “humanitarian” refugee advocates objected at the time I was writing some posts on the subject (and probably still do!) to watering down the definition to include weather migrants.
But, here is a pitch by a blog called “Sense and Sustainability” promoting the idea (again) of changing the definition of “refugee.”
Brendan Bannon/AFP/Getty Images
Human displacement due to climate change will be the “defining issue of our times!” Really!
According to the UNHCR 2012 publication “The State of the World’s Refugees,” human displacement as a result of climate change will be “a defining issue of our times.” Environmentally induced migration and displacement could reach unprecedented dimensions, with predictions ranging from 25 million to one billion by 2050.
Despite global concern for those displaced by climate change, “climate refugee” remains merely a descriptive term under the UNHCR’s international refugee regime. The 1951 Convention does not account for people fleeing natural disasters, and thus confers no legal obligation of asylum on States. Even defining the term “climate refugee” poses problems, as this type of displacement can be attributed to many factors, including scarcity of land resources, political pressures, and natural hazards. While climate change may exacerbate these problems – causing more frequent extreme weather events or gradually reducing agricultural productivity – it is virtually impossible to separate climate causes from other drivers of migration. Accordingly, no established methodology exists for calculating the actual number of people displaced by climate change.
Whatever quibbles statisticians may have over the numbers, one thing is clear –millions of people remain displaced and unaccounted for as they do not fit neatly into the UNHCR’s definition of refugee. Is it a matter of renaming this category of people to fit within the international refugee regime? Or, in a warmer world, must the definition and understanding of the concepts of ‘refugee’ and ‘protection’ adapt?
There is a nice example here about Vietnam attempting to solve its own flooding problems (no proof that global warming makes the Mekong Delta wet!) without resorting to caterwauling that their citizens should be sent to the first world (although we are still taking “political” refugees from Vietnam, a practice that should have ended decades ago).
Sense and Sustainability goes on:
We must continue to seek durable solutions for this group, one of the world’s most marginalized refugee populations. We see in this population the human face of climate change, and we must accommodate this emerging breed of refugee within international frameworks. In the name of climate change, we have adapted our infrastructure, our lifestyles, and our understanding of sustainability. Why not our definition of refugee?
About the photo: It was used to illustrate this 2006 article about the coming weather migrant hordes with absolutely no proof that “climate change” made this river rise! Let’s just put some Africans together in a photo with water and it will prove to the gullible public that global warming is real!