Climate Refugees in a Legal Vacuum
Bridging the Protection Gap in the International Refugee Convention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57947/qrp.v65i1-3.230Keywords:
Climate Refugees, Protection Gap, 1951 Refugee Convention, Non-Refoulement, Complementary ProtectionAbstract
This systematic literature review examined academic literature addressing the legal protection gap for migrants displaced across borders due to climate change. The literature review through PRISMA guidelines explored three research questions by analyzing 120 sources (2005-2024): the arguments for and against the extension of the 1951 Refugee Convention, proposed alternative frameworks, and the main barriers to the implementation. The analysis corroborated the main inadequacy of the Convention as its principal definition – requiring persecution connected to a specific civil or political status - was incompatible with the impersonal, multi-causal nature of climate displacement. The literature produced a variety of proposals, with the guidance of a multi-layered governance approach as the preferred way to go over a single instrument. Among these were the evolutionary interpretation of human rights law for complementary protection, the strategic use of soft-law tools like the Global Compacts, and the prioritization of regional and bilateral pathways. Moreover, the review pointed out that the main barriers to the needed political and normative changes are the attribution of responsibility, the securitization of migrants, and state sovereignty. It argued that overcoming the protection gap demands a realistic, polycentric approach that not only works within the law but also engages regional innovation and progressively builds the political will necessary for a future framework that is more just and comprehensive than the present one.
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