The Statute of Refugees: Is it Applicable to Environmentally Displaced Persons?

Abstract

The increasingly frequent occurrence of environmental disasters and natural resource degradation jeopardize the quality of life of humankind and, in some cases, prevents people from remaining in their places of origin. The backdrop of this article is the increasing concern in regards to people forced to abandon their homes, due to environmental changes that render the place they live inhospitable for human survival. The article has the objective to verify if and under which circumstances the global system of refugee protection is applied to environmentally displaced persons, filling in the lack of rules regulating their situation and ensuring their Fundamental Rights. Accordingly, it is necessary to build a specific legal system for environmentally displaced persons that guarantees people in that condition an effective protection.