Handbook

Every second, someone is displaced by a disaster. In fact, each year many more people are displaced by the impacts of disasters and climate change than by conflict. Yet, international law provides no clear framework for the protection of people forced to move in this context. The Refugee Convention is generally ill-fitting and judicial acknowledgement of the application of international human rights law remains uneven. While the issue of displacement in the context of climate change and disasters is now firmly on the global agenda, there remain legal, policy and operational gaps. As a multidimensional problem, it demands multidimensional solutions – but what are they and how might they be achieved?  This course considers how law and policy should be developed at the national, regional and international levels to respond to displacement and mobility in the context of climate change and disasters.