Environmentally displaced persons at the crossroads of environmental, human rights, asylum and economic law: A European perspective for a future framework

Environmentally displaced persons are often considered to be the human price of climate change. This situation calls for legal protection, based on human rights and global security concerns. This thesis focuses on the European Union’s possible legal contribution regarding environmentally displaced persons. The subject itself raises difficulties as firstly, it is hard to identify the link between climate change and migration patterns. This form of displacement is not exclusively due to climate change impact. It also constitutes a response to a more structural problem, based on global (economic) inequalities. Secondly, there are challenges regarding the scope of the identification of the category, due to the diversity of people affected (migration can be long-term or short-term, internal or involves crossing borders, etc.); and thirdly, there are no agreements in the research community on the particular term to use for this category of people, as every denomination carries different legal implications. However, these difficulties should not be used as an excuse not to articulate a legal framework for environmentally displaced persons. Within the European legal landscape, there is no express legislation concerning environmentally displaced persons. This research aims at identifying the different legal tools in European law that could be used to establish a European legal framework for environmentally displaced persons. Environmentally displaced persons are at the crossroad of multiple fields of law. The literature pointed out that the fragmentation of law hindered the foundation of a framework for environmentally displaced persons. Therefore, this thesis puts in perspective several fields of law fundamental to this subject: environmental law, human rights law, asylum law and economic law in relation with labour migration. Each one of these fields has tools which would prove useful, if not used in isolation. The combination of legal principles from different fields of law would therefore constitute a stronger foundation for such a framework