On this Canadian Refugee Rights Day which celebrates the Singh decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985, those forced to move by climate disruption affecting their rights, such as their right to life, are still not recognized. like refugees.
April 4 is a victory for refugees in Canada. Finally, it is recognized that their fundamental rights must be protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On the other hand, not all people displaced by threat are lucky enough to be granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Climate refugees are not specifically protected by the 1951 Geneva Convention. If the Geneva Convention seemed innovative at the time, it is now unsuited to the challenges of the 21st century.e century such as climate change. However, in January 2020, the United Nations issued certain specifications regarding the interpretation of the Geneva Convention.
The loopholes in this Convention having been disputed for a long time, the United Nations now asserts that the return by States of people forced to move because of a climate threat represents a risk of infringement of their right, more precisely right to life. The organization also points out that, sometimes, climate threats are combined with other types of threats, leading these people to obtain refugee status because of the latter.
Better late than never !
During COP26, the UN conference on climate change, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees carried out a very sensitive campaign on climate refugees. If this UN institution does not adhere to the term “climate refugee”, their key phrase ” Climate crisis is a human crisis highlights the importance of protecting this particularly vulnerable group of individuals. Discussions are slow to put in place measures to protect this group by the international organization.
Admittedly, the difficulty of obtaining the support of all the countries of the United Nations is enormous, but it is not impossible in my opinion. At the same time, the urgency of the situation continues to be illustrated by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and even the storm Fiona last year in Canada.
The exorbitant cost of Canadian neglect
Canada is one of the most active countries in terms of immigration, but also for the protection of human rights. Canada has long ignored the environment at the expense of profit, it is catching up by increasingly standing out. He currently works on several international cooperation committees, such as the Canadian Advisory Group on the Environment within the framework of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union, the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the Canadian-Chilean Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and it is applying just over a dozen new national and international measures to commit to reducing the impact of climate change.
At the G7 summit in 2021, Canada announced that it would double its international funding over a five-year period for a total of $5.3 billion. According to an article by The Canadian Press published last August, Canada’s financial projections for the cost of property damage caused by climate change in Canada will amount to $139 billion over the next 30 years.
It therefore remains to be seen whether Canada will put all its eggs in one basket or whether it will deploy a second budget for immigration relating to natural disasters or for offsets for its emissions outside its borders. In any case, the Singh decision is far behind us, and Canada must realize the extent of forced migrations due to climate change.