20 JUNE INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE DAY - Alarming Migrant Deaths!
UNITED against racism
Added: June 17, 2010
- 13,621 documented migrant deaths as a result of EU Immigration policy feature in the UNITED List of Deaths. Migrants leave their country of origin due to social, economic, political and environmental factors which restrict their quality of life.
- 13,621 documented deaths have occurred as migrants come face to face with the Fatal Realities of Fortress Europe. Fleeing their country of origin, they seek a life in Europe that does not necessarily become the safe place they hoped it would be; they are exposed to the militarisation of borders, deaths in custody, detention conditions, deportation procedures and the psychological suffering inflicted by the asylum and immigration system.
- 25,500,000 environmental migrants in 2010. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, this is estimated to increase to 150,000,000 in 40 years. Environmental conditions are the root cause of social, political and economic factors behind forced migration and UNHCR warns that human-driven climate change is set to become the biggest driver of population displacement in the near future.
- At least 4,426 cases on the List of Deaths can be identified as from the Sahel, a region of Sub-Saharan Africa spanning 10 countries, from Senegal on the West coast to Somalia on the East coast. This region has experienced 2 major droughts in the past 50 years, affecting land, water, biodiversity and the industries and communities relying on these natural resources.
- 50% the potential rise in the risk of civil war in Africa due to the effects of climate change over a 40 year period, according to a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scarcity of resources leads to increased competition, which paves the way for conflict.
- 100,000 people marched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December 2009 to apply pressure for governments to reach a fair and effective global agreement on climate change. Displays of common solidarity took place all over the world to coincide with the summit, with huge demonstrations involving 20,000 in London and 50,000 in Australia. This illustrates how organisations and individuals worldwide can unite for a shared goal.
- Over 23,800 activists were involved in UNITED's International Refugee Day 2009 campaign to highlight refugee issues from a non-governmental perspective.
- Thousands will take a stand for refugee rights during International Refugee Day 2010: Join us!
The count is rising: can we continue to ignore the evidence?
At present, the idea of a climate refugee and environmental displacement is not legally recognised and they are therefore not protected by any convention. The Geneva convention, which defines a refugee and the rights they are entitled to considers a fear of persecution due to only social, political and religious factors.
This creates a loophole in international law, allowing governments to ignore the issue and keep the protection of those most affected by climate change at the bottom of the political agenda. In order to support the victims of climate change, we need to formally recognise environmental displacement within a human rights framework; a new convention which defines environmentally displaced persons and outlines their rights as well as a separate funding mechanism.
This is the only way to force governments to take responsibility in allocating resources towards affected communities through proper resettlement programmes and helping vulnerable communities to adapt and cope better with the unavoidable impact that climate change has already started having on their lives.
Moreover, the legal recognition of climate refugees is an important step forward to push policy-makers to recognise the severity of human-made climate change and reach a fair and effective global agreement on how to deal with it.
