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Australian climate expert and Special Rapporteur to United Nations on Human Rights related to Climate Change has said that people who have been displaced due to global warming should receive the same protections offered as refugees.
Dr Ian Fry (right), who participated in climate negotiations for Tuvalu’s 2017 in 2017.
Dr Ian Fry, a specialist in international environmental law at the Australian National University, said The Sydney Morning Herald The AgeAlthough there are a thousand people who are now being displaced due to climate change, many of them do not face persecution and are not forced to flee their countries.
In recognition of the fact that climate change was causing violations to basic human rights, the Special Rapporteur position was established. Dr Fry served as Vanuatu’s climate ambassador for two decades and was awarded the position with support from Pacific islands nations, which are considered the frontlines of climate change.
Dr Fry said that while some of these countries face a potential existential threat from climate changes, more people are being displaced internally and internationally in places like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
“For a number of years there has been a concern that people displaced as a consequence of climate change aren’t afforded the same sort of protections that people who are refugees.
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“Rights to water, education, housing, etc are theoretically afforded to refugees. These people don’t meet that definition, and therefore they’re not afforded that right. And that’s certainly something I’ll be looking at – do we need to ascribe legal protection to people displaced by climate change?”
People who were forced from their homes often had basic human right, such as the right of personal security and dignity and access to food and water.
Dr Fry stated that the problem of displacement caused by climate change would only get worse as rising sea levels hit the coasts of Southeast Asia in the future. He pointed out that rising oceans had already affected the Torres Strait Islands. However, other climate impacts were causing people to relocate to parts of Australia because of fire and flood.
