Confronted with an increasing number of Haitian migrants after the 2010 earthquake,[1] Brazilian legislation was not adequate to deal with this new category of migrants properly. In the understanding of the Brazilian authorities, the Haitian migrants did not fall within…
In the Americas, as elsewhere in the world, neither universal nor regional standards presently exist to determine whether migrants or displaced persons affected by a disaster in their country are eligible for travel or admission to, or stay in, the…
There is no international instrument today which protects people who are displaced across borders as a consequence of climate change. If, as expected, cross-border displacement in the context of disasters and climate change increases, the gaps that exist in the…
If we accept that anthropogenic climate change does exist, we cannot deny the obvious implications of this in terms of human rights. What is not so obvious is how and to what extent the effects may be described as violations…
Current and projected climate change impacts have led to a wave of mitigation policies that, despite their well-intentioned motives, can actually lead to added pressures on the land of the most economically, environmentally and socially vulnerable groups in developing societies.…
Stateless people and other ‘non-citizens’ often reside in areas which are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and have few options available to them to mitigate its impacts. One of the barriers to improving support for stateless people…
Strategic litigation seeks to achieve significant changes in the law, practice or public awareness using methods such as the bringing of test cases to court, submitting amicus curiae briefs in ongoing cases, consistently advancing arguable points across a range of…
The Czech Republic is of particular interest in the European context due to several recent flooding disasters which were national emergencies, including in 1997, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2013. Weather extremes and climate variability are not the sole causes of…
In 2013 Typhoon Yolanda (internationally named ‘Haiyan’) put the Philippines on the television screens of the entire world when it drove the country to its knees, with a toll in lives in the thousands and damage to property in the…
In 2013, super Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, displacing four million people. In the disaster’s wake, the government announced that, given the country’s exposure to typhoons, it would enforce ‘no build zones’ (NBZs) within 40 metres of the high water…