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Posts published in September 2009

From “climate refugees” to “survival migrants”: can we return them to their country of origin?

No week passes without a newspaper article, television news or a documentary describing the plight of “climate refugees”. In this post, I would like to explain why, in my opinion, “survival migrants” is a more adequate term than “climate refugees” from a humanitarian and legal protection perspective. Secondly, I would like to examine to what extent “survival migrants” who have crossed an internationally-recognised border can legally be sent back to their country of origin or habitual residence. The frequently heard term “climate refugees” is legally incorrect. To be a refugee in the sense of Article 1 of the 1951 Convention…