Baking desert, cold reception? Climate change driven migration and international legal protection: the case study of the Sahel Region
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Fisseha, MehariEditorial
Universidad de Granada
Director
Fernández Avilés, José AntonioDepartamento
Universidad de Granada. Programa de Doctorado en Estudios MigratoriosMateria
Derecho del Trabajo y de la Seguridad Social
Fecha
2019Fecha lectura
2019-06-10Referencia bibliográfica
Fisseha, Mehari. Baking desert, cold reception? Climate change driven migration and international legal protection: the case study of the Sahel Region. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 2019. [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/56577]
Patrocinador
Tesis Univ. Granada.Resumen
The argument behind the thesis is that international measures taken to deal with irregular
migration since the end of the Second World War have been generally considered as
refugees only those who flee from persecution are the only ones who should be given
sanctuary and the right to seek asylum. In fact, a closer examination demonstrates that
there is a wide disconnection between the measures pursued and the resultant
consequences which come as a result of climate change. This hiatus stems from the fact
that the issue of refugees is crafted, understood and applied in a setting where the existing
legal framework only offers protection and the right to seek asylum to those fleeing from
political persecution. For this reason, the study aims to contribute to the conceptual
understanding and application of refugee law within the larger goal of proposing a climate
change refugee law under a legal framework in which those forced to migrate to new
countries by climate change are given the opportunity to seek asylum much the same as
those who flee their countries as a result of political persecution. The thesis inquiries into
the diverse meanings attributed to a refugee in a bid to understand the concept in a milieu
of climate change driven migration using the Sahel Region as a case study. How does the
theoretical underpinning of the concept of climate change refugees correlate with the legal
and institutional measures taken by the international community notably regional bodies
such as the European Union in dealing with refugees coming into their regions in search
of sanctuary? By taking this question into consideration, the study aims to address a range
of issues such as what kind of state institutions are envisaged for the current refugee law
reforms. It also aims to address the historical and theoretical imperatives which orient and
drive the refugee law reform process in climate change situations. A question of
fundamental importance is whether revisiting the refugee rights law to include ‘climate
change refugees’ requires nothing less than the transformation of social norms pertaining
migration particularly illegal migration by those fleeing their countries for whatever
reasons. It also has something to do with whether international actors can succeed in
ushering in a reconstructed, effective refugee law regime which recognises ‘climate
change refugees. The research is also envisaged as a contribution to the debate on how to
make the views of climate change refugees themselves heard in the needed
reconfiguration of the current refugee law regimen. It is hoped that if practitioners and
policy makers consider the findings of this study, their contribution the reforms will not
only achieve their objectives of reforms but also significantly improve the human rights of
the people in whose name these reforms are pursued.