Post on 06-Jan-2016
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A Critical Look and a Note of Caution
Addressing Environmental Migrationthrough International Governance:
Benoît Mayer, bmayer@nus.edu.sg
PhD candidate, National University of Singapore
Tracing Social Inequalities in Environmentally-induced Migration, Bielefeld12 December 2012
Programme EXCLIM
International law and environmental migration:
a normative gap?
Assumption:
Climate / environmental migrants ought to be a category of concern.
…Why?
Two alternative ethical approaches:
Distributive justice
Corrective justice
Two alternative ethical approaches:
Distributive justice: addressing vulnerability.
Corrective justice: implementing responsibility.
Two alternative ethical approaches:
Distributive justice: addressing vulnerability.
Corrective justice: implementing responsibility.
• Voluntary approach (‘should’)• Between ‘wealthy’ and ‘poor’ individuals / communities / states• Bilateral / regional / multilateral approach
• Stronger obligation (‘must’)• Between ‘culpable’ and ‘harmed’ states / groups of states• Multilateral approach, possibly through international jurisdictions
Distributive justice approach:
Addressing the vulnerability of environmental migrants
Image credit: http://technospirit.fr/zeblogs/laparolecircule/2011/04/14/sur-la-fraternite/
Distributive justice approach:
The vulnerability of environmental migrants… and others affected by environmental changes!
Migrationfrequency
Vulnerability (includingexposure and resilience)
Capacity toadapt in place
Migration asadaptation
Distributive justice approach:
The vulnerability of environmental migrants… and others affected by environmental changes!
Migrationfrequency
Vulnerability (includingexposure and resilience)
Capacity toadapt in place
Migration asadaptation
‘Trapped’in place
Climate migrants
Distributive justice approach:
The vulnerability of climate migrants… and other migrants!
Climate migrants
Environmental migrants
Distributive justice approach:
The vulnerability of climate migrants… and other migrants!
Climate migrants
Environmental migrants
Forced migrants
Distributive justice approach:
The vulnerability of climate migrants… and other migrants!
Climate migrants
Environmental migrants
Forced migrants
Migrants
Distributive justice approach:
The vulnerability of climate migrants… and other migrants!
‘Survival migration’(A. Betts)
Environmental migrants Environmental non-migrants
Non-environmental migrants Non-environmental non-migrants
Distributive justice approach:
Vulnerability beyond environmental migration
Distributive justice approach:
Addressing specific types of vulnerability
Distributive justice approach:
Addressing specific types of vulnerability
Type of migration
Characteristics ‘Environmentally-induced’ example
Evacuation Collective, reactive, forced, often temporary
Environmental disasters
Resettlement Collective, proactive, not directly forced, long term
Sea level rise
Livelihood diversification
Individual, proactive, not directly forced, long term
Resource depletion
Distributive justice approach:
Addressing specific types of vulnerability
Type of migration
Characteristics ‘Environmentally-induced’ example
Non ‘environmentally-induced’ example
Evacuation Collective, reactive, forced, often temporary
Environmental disasters
Industrial disasters
Resettlement Collective, proactive, not directly forced, long term
Sea level rise Industrial / development projects
Livelihood diversification
Individual, proactive, not directly forced, long term
Resource depletion
Economic downturn
Distributive justice approach:
Addressing specific types of vulnerability
Type of migration
Characteristics ‘Environmentally-induced’ example
Non ‘environmentally-induced’ example
Normative forums (examples)
Evacuation Collective, reactive, forced, often temporary
Environmental disasters
Industrial disasters
UNISDR, ILC
Resettlement Collective, proactive, not directly forced, long term
Sea level rise Industrial / development projects
Development institutions
Livelihood diversification
Individual, proactive, not directly forced, long term
Resource depletion
Economic downturn
States, bilateral cooperation, regional forums
Corrective justice approach:
A question of responsibility?
Image credit: http://chato-mgt.com/products.htm
Corrective justice approach:
The polluters’ responsibility for climate-related migration
2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts (ILC)
Corrective justice approach:
The polluters’ responsibility for climate-related migration
Wrongful act Damage Secondary obligations:1.Cessation/ non repetition, and2.Reparation (restitution, compensation, or satisfaction)
2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts (ILC)
Corrective justice approach:
The polluters’ responsibility for climate-related migration
Wrongful act Damage Secondary obligations:1.Cessation/ non repetition, and2.Reparation (restitution, compensation, or satisfaction)
GHGemissions (?)
Loss and damages
2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts (ILC)
Corrective justice approach:
The polluters’ responsibility for climate-related migration… and other loss and damages!
Migrationfrequency
Harm
Capacity toadapt in place
Migration asadaptation
‘Trapped’in place
Economic harm Migration Existential risks
Corrective justice approach:
The polluters’ responsibility for climate-related migration… and other loss and damages!
Wrongful act Damage Secondary obligations:1.Cessation/ non repetition, and2.Reparation (restitution, compensation, or satisfaction)
GHGemissions (?)
Loss and damages(including migration,but not only!)
2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts (ILC)
Corrective justice approach:
The polluters’ duty to repair… not to interfere!
Wrongful act Damage Secondary obligations:1.Cessation/ non repetition, and2.Reparation (restitution, compensation, or satisfaction)
GHGemissions (?)
Loss and damages(including migration,but not only!)
1. Mitigation2. Adaptation(restitution impossible,therefore compensation)
2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts (ILC)
Two alternative ethical approaches:
Distributive justice: addressing vulnerability.
Corrective justice: implementing responsibility.
• Argument for a regulation of types of migration (evacuation, resettlement, livelihood diversification), notwithstanding the cause.
• Arguments for a compensation of climate change-induced migrants, not justifying any form of international interference in the regulation of internal migration.
Assumption:
Climate / environmental migrants ought to be a category of concern.
…Why?
Assumption:
Climate / environmental migrants ought to be a category of concern.
…Why?…What can it lead us to?
Distributive justice
Corrective justice
States
Environmental migration
Universal standards
Adapted from: B. Mayer, “Environmental Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region: Could We Hang Out Sometime?”(2013) 3:1 Asian Journal of International Law (forthcoming).
Universal standards serving humanity as a whole?
WBGU 2007
Research
Adapted from WBGU 2007
80+% of people displacedby sudden disasters (except droughts) in the World are
Asians.
Global governance
West Third World
Distributive justice?
Corrective justice?
Research (mostly in the West)
Environmental Migration
Fear of the“environmental refugee”
Lack of empirical information
Adapted from: B. Mayer, “Environmental Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region: Could We Hang Out Sometime?”(2013) 3:1 Asian Journal of International Law (forthcoming).
Interference
A Western interference?
• Broader significance for global migration governance:– Definition as a tool for exclusion: oversight of other forced migrants and other
causes of migration.
– Politics of fear: legitimizing violence against (international) migrants.
• Broader significance for global climate governance:– Shifting priorities, from mitigation to adaptation, to migration.
– Legitimizing interference: a green neo-colonialism?
The note of caution: the dangers of dealing with ‘environmental migration’