The Dilemma And Outlet Of International Law Protection For Climate Refugees

At a time when there is a growing concern about climate changes,both legally,politically and practically,the rise in sea-level caused by global warming is having a serious negative impact on some coastal countries,particularly small Pacific island states,which are at risk of being submerged and unable to secure their habitat.This has given rise to the concept of “climate refugees”.However,the current international legal system for the protection of climate refugees suffers from vague definitions,a lack of responsible parties and a lack of binding international legal mechanisms.In this regard,this paper first identifies the current situation and dilemmas in the protection of climate refugees in international law,then examines the feasibility of existing international legal mechanisms for the protection of climate refugees,and finally proposes solutions to strengthen the protection of climate refugees in international law.Specifically,this paper is divided into four chapters.Chapter 1 provides an overview of the legal issues underlying the protection of climate refugees.In this chapter,the paper focuses on the definition of the concept of climate refugees in international law and its identification with similar concepts.The term climate refugees in this paper should be characterised by the following features:the climate change as the primary cause and the cross-border,forced and permanent nature of the migration of climate refugees.Chapter 2 focuses on the current practice and dilemmas of the protection of climate refugees under international law.This paper reviews the practices of home countries,host countries and international organizations in the protection of climate refugees.This paper finds that the main difficulties in the protection of climate refugees under international law are the the lack of capacity of home countries and the lack of protection by other countries.Chapter 3 examines the feasibility and shortcomings of using existing international legal mechanisms for the protection of climate refugees from the perspective of an in-depth analysis of existing international legal instruments.With regard to the international refugee legal regime,both the traditional definition of“convention refugees” and the definition of regional refugees are subject to difficulties of application.As for the international human rights and environmental legal mechanisms,there are certain implications and shortcomings in their existing systems for the protection of climate refugees.Chapter 4,in conjunction with the analysis of the whole paper,focuses on the proposals for strengthening the protection of climate refugees under international law.In the current international context,it is obviously not feasible to build a new international legal regime for climate refugees.Therefore,this paper advocates the protection of climate refugees through the protection of fundamental human rights and the application of the principle of non-refoulement under the existing international human rights legal mechanism.At the same time,under the international environmental legal mechanism,protection can be provided by including the issue of climate refugees in the climate change negotiations.