Climate-Induced Displacement and International Human Rights Law: Towards a Complementary Protection Framework

Abstract

This article addresses the critical governance gap in public international law concerning individuals displaced across international borders by the slow-onset and sudden-onset effects of climate change. The central research question examines how international human rights law (IHRL) can be systematically operationalised to provide a complementary protection framework for these individuals, given their exclusion from the 1951 Refugee Convention. Employing a doctrinal and jurisprudential methodology, this article analyzes recent regional and international case law, focusing specifically on the landmark decision of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Ioane Teitiota v. New Zealand. The principal argument posits that while the traditional refugee paradigm remains structurally inadequate due to the absence of a distinct persecutor or an identity-based nexus, the expanding scope of non-refoulement under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)—specifically Article 6 (right to life) and Article 7 (prohibition of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment)—offers an actionable legal pathway. The principal contribution of this article is the formulation of a structured, objective legal framework that integrates socio-economic rights from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to define the threshold of a "life with dignity," thereby enabling domestic immigration tribunals to evaluate climate-induced refoulement claims systematically.