https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1939-6135
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Abstract
This article builds on the widespread recognition that disaster is not a ‘natural’ phenomenon but occurs where exposure to a particular hazard coincides with pre-existing vulnerabilities to it—which might be social, economic or environmental—to increase personal susceptibility to harm. It argues that the impacts of climate change impose an increasingly pressing need to revive the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights as a priority, not only through their express incorporation into disaster risk planning, policies and domestic law, but by rethinking how they are implemented to include and empower the people who need them most.
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible with funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The authors would like to thank Camille Hellesen for her valuable research assistance. We also express our sincere gratitude to the anonymous referees for their very useful comments on an earlier draft. The views contained herein reflect those of the authors and should not be taken to represent those of their employers.
Notes
1 Bridget Lewis and Rowena Maguire, ‘A Human Rights-Based Approach to Disaster Displacement in the Asia-Pacific’ (2016) 6(2) Asian JIL 326, abstract.
2 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 993 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 January 1976) (‘ICESCR’), art 2(1).
3 See eg UN Human Rights Committee, Teitiota v New Zealand, UN Doc CCPR/C/127/D/2728/2016 (7 January 2020, views adopted 24 October 2019). This case is outlined in more detail in section III of this article. There are also notable exceptions in the scholarship: Ezekiel Simperingham, ‘State Responsibility to Prevent Climate Displacement: The Importance of Housing, Land and Property Rights’ in Dimitra Manou and others (eds), Climate Change, Migration and Human Rights: Law and Policy Perspectives (Routledge 2017) 86; Robert McLeman, ‘Climate-related Migration and its Linkages to Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Socio-Economic Inequality: Evidence from Recent Examples’ in Benoît Mayer and François Crépeau (eds), Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law (Edward Elgar 2017) 29.
4 Rodrigo Uprimny and Michael Windfuhr, General Comment No 26 (2021) on land and economic, social and cultural rights, 69th sess, UN Doc E/C12/68/R2 (3 May 2021) <www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CESCR/Pages/CESCR-draft-GC-land.aspx>.
5 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report: The Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers (IPCC 2021) 33, 45 and 97.
6 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 137 (entered into force 22 April 1954) (‘Refugee Convention’), art 1(A)(2); 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 606 UNTS 267 (entered into force 4 October 1967 in accordance with article VIII Refugee Convention).
7 Jane McAdam, ‘Displacement in the Context of Climate Change and Disasters’ in Cathryn Costello, Michelle Foster and Jane McAdam (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law (OUP 2021) 832; Jane McAdam, Climate Change, Forced Migration and International Law (OUP 2012); Simon Behrman and Avidan Kent (eds), Climate Refugees: Beyond the Legal Impasse? (1st edn, Routledge 2018); Vikram Kolmannskog and Lisetta Trebbi, ‘Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Displacement: A Multi-track Approach to Filling the Protection Gaps’ (2010) 92 IRRC 713; Rina Kuusipalo, ‘Exiled by Emissions: Climate Change Related Displacement and Migration in International Law: Gaps in Global Governance and the Role of the UN Climate Convention’ (2016) 18(4) VermontJEnvL 614; Thea Philip, ‘Climate Change Displacement and Migration: An Analysis of the Current International Legal Regime’s Deficiency, Proposed Solutions and a Way Forward for Australia’ (2018) 19(2) MelbJIntlL 639.
8 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Colloquium on the International Protection of Refugees in Central America, Mexico and Panama, Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (22 November 1984) [3]; Organisation of African Unity, Assembly of Heads of State and Government, 6th sess, 1969, Convention Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, opened for signature 10 September 1969, 1001 UNTS 45 (entered into force 20 June 1974), art 1.
9 Sanjula Weerasinghe, In Harm’s Way: International Protection in the Context of Nexus Dynamics between Conflict or Violence and Disaster or Climate Change (UNHCR 2018) 4, 64 and 86.
10 There are arguments to expand those categories: Katie Sykes, ‘Hunger without Frontiers: The Right to Food and State Obligations to Migrants’ in David D Caron and others (eds), The International Law of Disaster Relief (CUP 2014) 190).
11 Teitiota v NZ (n 3).
12 Contrary to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 19 December 1996, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) (ICCPR), art 6.
13 Teitiota v NZ (n 3) [4.6], [9.9].
14 Ibid. [9.11]; Jane McAdam, ‘Protecting People Displaced by Climate Change: The UN Human Rights Committee and the Principle of Non-Refoulement’ 114(4) (2020) AJIL 708, 709.
15 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Global Report on Internal Displacement (2021) 8.
16 IDMC, Global Report on Internal Displacement (2020) 1.
17 IDMC, Global Report on Internal Displacement (2019) 1.
18 Jane McAdam, The Twin Calamities of Covid-19 and Climate Change (blog post, 7 May 2020) <www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/twin-calamities-climate-change-and-covid-19>; Miriam Cullen, ‘Disaster, Displacement and International Law: Legal Protections in the Context of a Changing Climate’ 8(4) 2020 Politics & Governance 270; Kayly Ober, Miriam Ernest and Jacqueline Kessler, ‘The Pandemic Impact on Climate-Related Migration’ (blog post, 25 February 2021) <www.fes.de/en/displacement-migration-integration/article-page-flight-migration-integration/the-pandemic-impact-on-climate-related-migration>.
19 The International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters (2016) contains just one provision on prevention and has been criticized for having ‘ … retreated to conservative understandings of disaster-vulnerability and missed an opportunity for a sophisticated formulation’: Thérèse O’Donnell, ‘Vulnerability and the International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters (2019) 68 ICLQ 573. The Sydney Declaration of Principles on the Protection of Persons in Displaced in the Context of Sea Level Rise, adopted by the International Law Association’s Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise (19–24 August 2018) (Sydney Declaration), is more advanced in this respect. One of its three purposes is to ‘avert’ displacement in the context of sea-level rise, and the Declaration incorporates language on preventing displacement, and the adoption of normative and operational frameworks to avert it, including planned relocation.
20 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Summary for Policymakers (2022) 19–20.
21 Francis Michael Forde, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Verbatim Minutes of the Second Plenary Session, UN Conference on International Organization, Doc 20, P/6 (28 April 1945) 4 in: United Nations Conference on International Organization: Documents Vol 1 (1945) 171.
22 A Ramaswami Mudaliar, Supply Member of the Governor General’s Executive Council, Chairman of the Indian Delegation, Verbatim Minutes of the Third Plenary Session, UN Conference on International Organization, Doc 22, P/7 (29 April 1945) 16 in: United Nations Conference on International Organization: Documents Vol 1 (1945) 245.
23 Inter-American Juridical Committee, The Dumbarton Oaks Proposals: Preliminary Comments and Recommendations of the Inter-American Juridical Committee of Rio De Janeiro (1944) 2.
24 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Status of Ratification’ <https://indicators.ohchr.org/> accessed 15 January 2022.
25 ICESCR, arts 6–15.
26 ICESCR, art 2(1); Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations (Art 2, Para 2, of the Covenant), 5th session, UN Doc E/1991/23 (14 December 1990).
27 ICESCR, art 2(1).
28 ICESCR, art 4.
29 Guy S Goodwin-Gill, ‘Non-Refoulement and the New Asylum Seekers’ 26 (1986) VaJIntlL 897 (Annex).
30 The Nansen Initiative, Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (2015) 15.
31 Jane McAdam, ‘From the Nansen Initiative to the Platform on Disaster Displacement: Shaping International Approaches to Climate Change, Disasters and Displacement’ (2016) 39(4) University of New South Wales Law Review 1518, 1526.
32 The Nansen Initiative (n 30) 47.
33 Ibid. 34.
34 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, GA Res 73/195, 73rd sess, Agenda Items 14 and 119, UN Doc A/RES/73/195 (19 December 2018, adopted 11 January 2019) [18](h)–(l).
35 Ibid. [18(h)(k)].
36 Sarah Joseph and Melissa Castan, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases, Materials, and Commentary (3rd edn, OUP 2013) [8.75].
37 Teitiota v NZ (n 3) [9.8].
38 Ibid. [9.8]–[9.9].
39 ICCPR, pt IV.
40 Michael D Cooper, ‘The Seven Dimensions of Disaster: The Sendai Framework and the Social Construction of Catastrophe’ in Katja L H Samuel, Marie Aronsson-Storrier and Kirsten Nakjavani Bookmiller (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Risk Reduction and International Law (CUP 2019) 17, 19; Karen da Costa and Paulina Pospieszna, ‘The Relationship between Human Rights and Disaster Risk Reduction Revisited: Bringing the Legal Perspective into the Discussion’ (2015) 6 Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 64; Cullen (n 15).
41 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, GA/Res 69/283, 69th sess, 92nd plen mtg, Agenda Item 19(c), UN Doc A/RES/69/283 (23 June 2015) [4], [28(d)], [33(h)(j)].
42 Ibid. [14], [17].
43 Ibid. [19(c)].
44 Sydney Declaration.
45 Ibid. Principle 3.
46 Ibid. Principle 2.
47 See eg Sykes (n 10) 190; Simperingham (n 3); McLeman (n 3).
48 Robin Bronen, ‘Rights, Resilience and Community-Led Relocation’ 45 (2021) The Harbinger 27.
49 Margarethe Wewerinke-Singh, ‘Climate Migrants’ Right to Enjoy Their Culture’ in Simon Behrman and Avidan Kent (eds), ‘Climate Refugees’: Beyond the Legal Impasse (Routledge 2018) 194, 198–99.
50 And failure to respect the right to culture can inhibit recovery: Mark Kammerbauer, Iderlina B Mateo-Babiano and John Minnery, ‘Planning and Governance for Disaster Recovery in Tacloban after Typhoon Haiyan’ in Giuseppe Forino, Sara Bonati and Lina Maria (eds), Governance of Risks, Hazards and Disasters (Routledge 2018) 258, 267–69.
51 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation No 37 on gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change, CEDAW/C/GC/37 (7 February 2018) [2], [4].
52 As recommended, for example, by several of the remarks during the Human Rights Council’s panel discussion on the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change: ‘Human Rights Council holds panel discussion on the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change’, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (Web Page) <www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26055>.
53 Emphasis added.
54 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN Doc A/810 (10 December 1948) art 25(1).
55 Refugee Convention (n 6), art 21.
56 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981), arts 14 (2), 15 (2).
57 Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990), arts 16(1), 27(3).
58 International Labour Organisation Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, opened for signature 27 June 1989, 1650 UNTS 383 (entered into force 5 September 1991), arts 14, 16, 17.
59 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, opened for signature 18 December 1990, 2220 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 July 2003), art 43(1)(d).
60 Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 May 2008), arts 9, 28.
61 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 4: The right to adequate housing (Art 11 (1) of the Covenant), 6th session, UN Doc E/1992/23 (14 December 1991) 8(a) (General Comment on the Right to Adequate Housing).
62 Ibid. [8](e).
63 Uprimny and Windfuhr (n 4).
64 Ibid. [54].
65 Ibid.
66 Bezgrebelna, M.; McKenzie, K.; Wells, S.; Ravindran, A.; Kral, M.; Christensen, J.; Stergiopoulos, V.; Gaetz, S.; Kidd, S.A. ‘Climate Change, Weather, Housing Precarity, and Homelessness: A Systematic Review of Reviews. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 5812. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115812
67 Simperingham (n 3) 90.
68 Bezgrebelna and others (n 66) 11.
69 IDMC, No Matter of Choice: Internal Displacement in a Changing Climate (2018) 2–3; Dina Delias and Patrick Daly, ‘The Challenges of Disaster Risk Reduction in Rapidly Expanding Urban Environments: Baguio City, Philippines since the 1990 Luzon Earthquake’ in Patrick Daly and R Michael Feener (eds), Rebuilding Asia Following Natural Disasters: Approaches to Reconstruction in the Asia-Pacific Region (CUP 2016) 57, 58.
70 Delias and Daly (n 69).
71 David Satterthwhaite and others, ‘Building Resilience to Climate Change in Informal Settlements’ (2020) [2], [2] One Earth Review 143.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.; David Mitchell and Darryn McEvoy, Land Tenure and Climate Vulnerability: A World in Which Everyone Enjoys Secure Land Rights (United Nations Human Settlements Programme [UN Habitat], RMIT University and Global Land Tool Network Report, 2019) 25.
74 Satterthwaite and others (n 71).
75 General Comment on the Right to Adequate Housing [8](g).
76 Mitchell and McEvoy (n 73) 30–33.
77 Ibid. 32.
78 Annah E Piggott and others, ‘Dam(n) Sea Walls: A Case of Climate Change Maladaptation in Fiji’ in Walter Leal Filho (ed), Managing Climate Change Adaptation in the Pacific Region (Springer 2020) 69–84.
79 Climate Change and Community Relocation: Lessons from Alaska (Norwegian Refugee Council and Alaska Institute for Justice, May 2017) 14; see also Erica Bower and Sanjula Weerasinghe, Leaving Place, Restoring Home: Enhancing the Evidence Base on Planned Relocation Cases in the Context of Hazards, Disasters, and Climate Change (Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law 2021) 8; Brookings, Georgetown University and UNHCR, Guidance on Protecting People from Disasters and Environmental Change through Planned Relocation (2015) 5.
80 Simperingham (n 3) 91; Bower and Weerasinghe (n 79) 7.
81 See eg Jane McAdam, ‘Historical Cross-Border Relocations in the Pacific: Lessons for Planned Relocations in the Context of Climate Change’ (2014) 49(3) The Journal of Pacific History 301.
82 Graeme Hugo, ‘Lessons from Past Forced Resettlement for Climate Change Migration’ in Étienne Piguet, Antoine Pécoud and Paul de Guchteneire (eds), Migration and Climate Change (CUP 2011) 260–288.
83 Simperingham (n 3) 91; Bower and Weerasinghe (n 79) 7.
84 Brookings, Georgetown University and UNHCR (n 79) 23.
85 General Comment on the Right to Adequate Housing [8(g)].
86 Bower and Weerasinghe (n 79) 7.
87 Ibid.
88 Bronen (n 48) 44.
89 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 12: The right to adequate food (Art11), 20th session, UN Doc E/C12/1999/5 (12 May 1999).
90 Refugee Convention (n 6), art 20.
91 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (n 56) preamble, art 12(2).
92 Convention on the Rights of the Child (n 57), art 24(2)(c).
93 International Labour Organisation Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (n 58), arts 14, 15 (if indirectly).
94 Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (n 60), arts 25(f), 28(1).
95 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (n 89) [6].
96 Ibid. [8], [12], [25].
97 Ibid. [12].
98 Elizabeth Ferris, ‘A Complex Constellation: Displacement, Climate Change and Arctic Peoples’ (Brookings Institute 2013) <www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/30-arctic-ferris-paper.pdf>.
99 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report (2007) Ch 28, 1581.
100 Raj Patel, ‘Food Sovereignty’ (2009) 36(3) The Journal of Peasant Studies 663; Michael Fakhri, ‘Third World Sovereignty, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Food Sovereignty: Living with Sovereignty Despite the Map’ (2018) 9(3-4) Transnational Legal Theory 218, 239; Emma Larking, ‘Mobilising for Food Sovereignty: The Pitfalls of International Human Rights Strategies and an Exploration of Alternatives’ (2019) 23(5) IJHR 758; Anna Chadwick, Law and the Political Economic of Hunger (OUP 2019) ch 6.
101 Patel (n 100) 663.
102 Larking (n 100) 761.
103 Ibid. citing Vía Campesina, ‘The Right to Produce’.
104 European Coordination Vía Campesina, Food Sovereignty Now! A Guide to Food Sovereignty (2018) 14–15 <https://viacampesina.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/02/Food-Sovereignty-A-guide-Low-Res-Vresion.pdf>.
105 Christine Gibb and Justin Veuthey, ‘How Do Disasters Shape Food Sovereignty in the Philippines? Exploring the Reciprocal Relationships between Food and Disasters’ (2011) 26 Philippine Journal of Third World Studies 341; Marygold Walsh-Dilley, Wendy Wolford and James McCarthy, ‘Rights for Resilience: Food Sovereignty, Power and Resilience in Development Practice’ (2016) 21(1) Ecology and Society 11; ibid.
106 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 25: On Science and Economic, Social and Cultural rights (Arts 15(1)(b), (2), (3) and (4) of the Covenant), UN Doc E/C12/GC/25 (30 April 2020) [64] (General Comment on Science and ESC Rights) referring to United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, GA Res 73/165, 73rd sess, 55th plen mtg, Agenda Item 74(b), UN Doc A/RES/73/195 (17 December 2018, adopted 21 January 2019) (UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants), art 15 (4).
107 UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (n 106).
108 General Comment on Science and ESC Rights (n 106) [64] referring to ibid, art 15 (4).
109 Devon Sampson and others, ‘Food Sovereignty and Rights-Based Approaches Strengthen Food Security and Nutrition Access Across the Globe: A Systemic Review’ (2021) 5 Sustainable Food Systems 1, 17.
110 Julie Fraser, Social Institutions and International Human Rights Law Implementation: Every Organ of Society (CUP 2020) 72.