People Urgently Fleeing Climate Crisis Cannot Be Sent Home, UN Rules

[appalachiablue]

Source: BBC News

People fleeing immediate danger due to the climate crisis cannot be forced to return home, the UN has said. The landmark ruling centres on the case of Ioane Teitiota, whose home - the Pacific Island of Kiribati - is threatened by rising sea levels. Mr Teitiota applied for protection in New Zealand in 2013.

The UN rejected his claim, saying he wasn't in immediate danger, but the wording of its ruling allows others to claim asylum based on climate change. Sending asylum seekers home when their lives are threatened by the climate crisis "may expose individuals to a violation of their rights" - specifically, it said, their right to life.

"Given that the risk of an entire country becoming submerged under water is such an extreme risk, the conditions of life in such a country may become incompatible with the right to life with dignity before the risk is realised," its decision added. What about Mr Teitiota? The UN ruling - which is non-binding - is the clearest warning to countries that they may be breaching a person's human rights if they send them back to a country at immediate risk of climate-related danger.

But it found against Mr Teitiota's specific claim, which was that his and his family's lives were endangered in Kiribati.
(Links)◾The man who would be the first climate change refugee ◾Refugees at 'increased risk' from extreme weather ◾How many climate migrants will there be?...

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51179931

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High population growth and rising sea levels have created social tension, unrest and violence on Kiribati, Mr Teitiota said. He also added that crops there were already being ruined.

In 2015 he said "I'm the same as people who are fleeing war. Those who are afraid of dying, it's the same as me." But his claim was rejected by New Zealand courts and now that has been upheld by the UN.

The UN's IPCC warned that Kiribati was one of the 6 Pacific island nations most threatened by rising sea levels and it could become uninhabitable by 2050.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has also warned that in the next decade, tens of millions of people could be displaced due to climate change. In 2018, the World Bank said climate clange would force more than 140 million people to leave their homes in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.



- Kiribati is one of six Pacific island nations most threatened by rising sea levels.

[elleng]

1. The whole world is . . .

[appalachiablue]

2. And it's just starting, with much more to come. We are so

unprepared, it's hard to comprehend.

[C Moon]

4. I love that gif you have of that asshole being swallowed by his own hatred.

[Duppers]

5. "hard to comprehend"

Problem is that most aren't even trying.

[C Moon]

3. Damn. That's an intense decision. It's truly getting scary now.

[gab13by13]

6. The United States doesn't obey

any stinking UN rules under Trump. Hope I don't need the sarcasm thingy?

[The Mouth]

9. It isn't sarcasm

The Republican simply do not accept *any* United Nations rulings or initiatives that they don't care to. Was just discussing this today, and my Blue Dog Democrat friend agreed with the Republicons; "we do not own any non citizen anything, most especially asylum here". And yes, he votes Democrat at least at the state and local.

[PatrickforO]

7. There will be millions of refugees from the capitalist carbon emissions.

As the climate worsens due to the lies spread by big oil to ensure profits continue for shareholders, millions will have to leave their homes and go........................where?

[Marthe48]

8. Watched a Time Team video on You Tube last night

It is strongly suspected that the area between the Northern English Channel and the North Sea from east coast of England and the west coasts of the Netherlands and Denmark were once an immense and fertile river valley that was heavily populated by animals, Neanderthals humans, and modern humans. When the glaciers melted at the end of the last Ice Age, the area was covered by the sea in a matter of a few thousand years. According to the show, people could see the water covering land in a matter of feet every day.

When modern fishermen in the area cast their nets, they bring up animal bones, some human artifacts and other evidence that this was a great place to live for a diverse population of species.

There are prehistoric sites being excavated along the shores.

I really can feel for the people on the Pacific Islands, which were mentioned at the end of this show as being dreadfully at risk because of climate change.