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Revealing the role of discrimination in disasters challenges received wisdom about who is a refugee.
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Two disaster paradigms; 3. Jurisprudence on RSD in the context of 'natural' disasters and climate change; 4. Interpreting the refugee definition; 5. The temporal scope of being persecuted; 6. The personal scope of being persecuted: the function of the non-discrimination norm within the refugee definition; 7. Refugee status determination in the context of 'natural' disasters and climate change; Appendix 1. Taxonomy.
About the author
Matthew Scott heads the People on the Move thematic area at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Sweden, where he leads research and educational initiatives relating to human rights, disasters and displacement in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and Europe. He is a solicitor of England and Wales and practised asylum and immigration law before entering academia.
Summary
This book is for university researchers, students and legal practitioners working in international law and wider fields. It is one of the only monographs to review jurisprudence relating to 'climate refugees' and provides a novel legal and epistemological perspective that challenges received wisdom and offers theoretical and practical insights.
Additional text
'Matthew Scott's book is a very welcome, thought-provoking and significant contribution to the discussion on the protection of persons displaced across borders in the context of disasters and adverse effects of climate change. Highlighting that disasters result from the interaction of natural hazards and social vulnerability rather than just being 'natural', he cogently shows how the refugee definition enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention should be interpreted to cover certain categories of individuals who, on account of pre-existing patterns of discrimination, are more vulnerable to the impacts of disasters than others. This is essential reading for everyone interested in exploring the potential of refugee law to address the plight of the growing number of persons forced to flee in the context of drought, flooding, sea-level rise and other forms of environmental degradation.' Walter Kälin, Universität Bern, Switzerland
