Climate Refugees and Their Legal Status in the Context of International Public Law and the European Union Law

Abstract

The paper concentrates on the issue of climate refugees which will play vital role in the future. Climate changes, population growth and the consequent conflicts will become the main threats for the whole Europe. The paper deals with a real case from New Zealand, the Teitiota case, which suggests several problems with climate refugees. When applied to the European Union, the case shows the absence of legal framework in this field within the European Union. It also predicts the insufficiency of individual interventions on the level of national states and, consequently, the inevitable need of a supra-national solution for this overlooked problem.

Keywords

• international public law
• climate refugees
• teitiota case
• directive 2011/95/eu of the european parliament and of the council of 13 december 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection
• for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection
• and for the content of the protection granted
• new zealand
• kiribati
• the european union