This thesis was submitted to the University of Pennsylvania in Spring 2021 – by Rachel Steinig
Abstract
Climate change has already begun causing displacement. This isn’t a new problem: since 2008, an average of 24 million people have been displaced each year by catastrophic weather disasters. There are currently at least 100 million forcibly displaced people worldwide – this is the highest level on record ever. However, climate migrants are not considered refugees under international law, according to the definition of a refugee adopted in the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees, and thus lack legal protections. In my thesis I investigated the role of existing bilateral and regional agreements to provide protection and asylum for climate refugees. My research question was: what are the conditions under which states agree to legally binding instruments to accommodate climate-induced migration? I collected nine case studies of bilateral and regional agreements that have either been implemented and have provided protection for climate-displaced persons or have been proposed but never implemented. My study presents somewhat of a grim picture for climate-displaced persons. None of my nine case studies provided a convincing example of the feasibility of using current regional or bilateral agreements to accommodate climate-induced displacement. In addition, most governments proved unwilling to even acknowledge climate displacement as a phenomenon.
What inspired you to write and research this piece?
Climate-induced displacement will only be increasing throughout time, and the fact that people displaced by climate change are not considered refugees under international law means that an increasing number of displaced people will be without legal protection or remedy. There isn’t a lot of existing research on the intersection of climate change, migration, and international law, so through my study I wanted to contribute to the budding literature on this topic and explore the feasibility of a potential solution to the lack of international legal protections for climate-displaced persons.Â
What impact do you hope this research will have?
Climate-included displacement is a phenomenon that will only be increasing in severity throughout time and requires attention and action at the local, national, and international levels. A key takeaway from my study is that there are no easy answers or solutions to climate-displacement, and that countries of destination will likely oppose the acknowledgement of and accommodation of climate-displaced persons. I hope that my study will positively contribute to the literature and that the amount of research on this topic will increase throughout time.
Rachel Steinig (they/she) works with asylum-seekers in Tijuana as a Project Coordinator with the Border Rights Project of Al Otro Lado, a bi-national legal aid nonprofit. They graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a concentration in International Relations, and triple minors in Latin American and Latinx Studies, Spanish, and Modern Middle Eastern Studies.
She spent the summer after graduation volunteering at a migrant shelter on the Mexico-Guatemala border. In July they will be moving to central Mexico to work as a Human Rights Accompanier with the organization Peace Brigades International. They are dedicated to working in solidarity with asylum-seekers to combat the structural racism and violence of our immigration system and to advocate for a world without borders. She plans on working in international human rights law.
No edits have been made to maintain the author’s tone of voice.
