| "Environmental refugees" are people forced to seek refuge in another State, due to such environmental degradation of their traditional home land that renders it impossible for them to survive there. Under international law, "environmental refugees" are not refugees and thus, are not entitled to legal protection when in a host State. This thesis examines whether "environmental refugees" can be afforded legal protection under current norms of international law. While international refugee law, international human rights law and the principle of international responsibility to protect fail to offer legal protection to "environmental refugees", the rules on State responsibility can be successfully applied to protect "environmental refugees" in refuge. The author illustrates that under these rules, the international community of States has the obligation to repair damages it caused by breaching the erga omnes obligation to protect the environment in the form of offering legal protection to "environmental refugees". |
