• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, August 15, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Environment

Climate Refugees Could be Entitled to Asylum: UN Rights Panel

Bryan Bowman by Bryan Bowman
01/21/20
in Environment, Featured, World
A bamboo-based design raises family homes safely above water levels to cope with raising water levels in Bangladesh.

Stilt houses, coping with climate change. Photo: Development Planning Unit at University College London, Flickr

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The U.N. Human Rights Committee ruled for the first time Tuesday that people fleeing the effects of climate change may be entitled to asylum.

The ruling came as the Geneva-based committee weighed in on the case of Ioane Teitiota, a man from the Pacific island nation of Kiribati who was denied asylum in New Zealand in 2015.

Though the committee dismissed Teitota’s case and ruled that his deportation was legal, it found that similar cases could require states to grant asylum under the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“This ruling sets forth new standards that could facilitate the success of future climate change-related asylum claims,” said Yuval Shany, a member of the committee.

In its ruling, the committee found that climate change is one of the most “pressing and serious threats to the ability of present and future generations to enjoy the right to life.”

A growing body of research has indicated that the effects of climate change are already leading to increased migration levels and experts fear that massive, destabilizing refugee crises could be one of the most dire consequences of the phenomenon.

A 2019 report from the Global Peace Index estimated that climate change will displace more than 140 million people globally by 2050.

Teitiota had argued that Kiribati is becoming increasingly uninhabitable as the island’s supply of freshwater has dwindled and land disputes have grown violent as the ocean levels rise.

Though the rights committee dismissed his asylum case, the U.N.’s refugee agency (UNHCR) has acknowledged the link between climate and migration.

“Some families and communities have already started to suffer from disasters and the consequences of climate change, which has forced them to leave their homes in search of a new beginning,” the agency has found.

Though poorer, developing nations have contributed the least to climate change, people in the Global South are the most likely to be affected by climate-related disasters.


More on the Subject 

After Drought, Floods Compound Somalia’s Year of Climate Misery

 

 

 

ShareTweet
Bryan Bowman

Bryan Bowman

Email Bryan at bryan.bowman@theglobepost.com or follow him on Twitter @TGPBryanBowman

Related Posts

Shell
Environment

Greenpeace Sues UK Government Over Shell Gas Field

by Staff Writer
July 27, 2022
Joe Biden
Environment

Biden Vows Climate Action as Heat Waves Slam US, Europe

by Staff Writer
July 20, 2022
Australia wildlife
Environment

‘Shocking’ Government Report Lists Devastation to Australia Wildlife

by Staff Writer
July 19, 2022
Joe Biden climate summit
Environment

Biden Calls Clean Energy Matter of National Security in Face of Russia War

by Staff Writer
June 17, 2022
climate change
Environment

Developing Countries Left ‘Disappointed’ at Climate Talks

by Staff Writer
June 16, 2022
Volkswagen logo
Environment

German Farmer Sues Volkswagen Over CO2 Emissions

by Staff Writer
May 20, 2022
Next Post
Rights Groups Denounce Charges Against Brazil-Based Journalist Glenn Greenwald

Rights Groups Denounce Charges Against Brazil-Based Journalist Glenn Greenwald

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and officials listen to the national anthem after president's address to the Federal Assembly at the Manezh exhibition hall in downtown Moscow on January 15, 2020

‘Getting Russia Off Its Knees:’ How Putin Ensures His Legacy Far Beyond 2024

Recommended

Marina Ovsyannikova

Russian TV Journalist Faces Jail Time for Anti-Putin Protest

August 10, 2022
Mar-A-Lago raid

FBI Raid on Trump’s Home Ignites Political Firestorm

August 9, 2022
Ukraine nuclear plant

Ukraine Calls for De-Militarization of Occupied Nuclear Plant

August 8, 2022
Toru Kubota

Myanmar Junta Charges Japanese Journalist With Encouraging Dissent

August 4, 2022
Nancy Pelosi

Taiwan Defiant as China Readies Military Drills Over Pelosi Visit

August 3, 2022
Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022

Opinion

Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post