Workshop on International Protection, Disasters and Climate Change in Africa
This session addressed pertinent conceptual and legal aspects of how the international protection rules expressed by refugee law and human rights law apply to claims relating to disaster contexts and climate change in the country of origin, including:
- Is international protection the appropriate framework to apply?
- How can we best conceptualise protection risks in disaster contexts?
- How do refugee definitions apply to claims based on these facts?
- When does human rights law prevent removal to such disaster situations?
Chaired by Jocelyn Perry (Refugees International and University of Oxford), the session draws on the Refugee Law Initiative Declaration on International Protection in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change, released in June 2024, and the accompanying background research paper published in the prestigious International Journal of Refugee Law. Prof David Cantor presented.
The RLI promulgates a Declaration on International Protection every two years. The Declaration draws on the refugee law expertise of the global research networks hosted at RLI. Its principal audience includes refugee status decision-makers, judges, lawyers, policymakers, scholars and others.
