The Impasse of International Law on Climate-Induced Migration: Recent Developments and the United Nation’s January 2020 Decision on Climate Refugees

Abstract

This paper aims to lay out the challenges and potentially fatal conflicts inherent in the emerging attempts to respect state sovereignty while crafting progressive and truly responsive sets of approaches to a sui generis global problem like the climate crisis. It examines general approaches and practices on climate refugees within the scope of a critical legal framework, taking as an example the ‘Ioane Teitiota’ case that attracted public attention as an international issue starting in 2013. In addition, we will examine from a legal viewpoint and with an eye to future consequences, the January 2020 United Nations’ historical decision on climate refugees. We adopt Martti Koskennimi’s terms, ascending and descending justifications, to show the oscillation that the legal mind experiences in between order and will. In this paper, we will claim that the legal mind fights a battle that eventually ends up with a deadlock due to the very structure of modern law. © 2021, SETA Foundation. All rights reserved.