HELP CLIMATE REFUGEES
- by: Atulya Venkataraman, Grade 5, United World College S.E.A
- recipient: Petition the UNHCR, the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly
Impact of Climate Change on Communities
Today most of the world's poor live between 20 degrees N and 20 degrees S. They are the most vulnerable to the effects of global warming; whether it is a landlocked country such as Chad or an archipelago like the Maldives.
For a country like Chad, drought and water shortage may result in severe and prolonged famine. On the other hand, rising sea levels may result in significant loss of land in a country like Maldives.
The consequences are untold suffering for millions of people by way of displacement, loss of livelihood and diseases.
The people displaced from their traditional homeland need to be protected. A good way to do this is to accord them refugee status.
Vital assistance from the UNHCR is available only to those who are considered refugees.
Please sign this petition and request your governments to have the definition of refugee amended to include those who are forced to migrate as a result of climate change.
Climate refugees...the prisoners of geography.
While we as a civilization are working to prevent climate change and avoid catastrophe, we must prepare for calamities. There is a significant danger--- many islands such as Vanuatu in the Pacific, Maldives in the Indian Ocean, costal areas of India and Bangladesh will be greatly affected and perhaps even disappear under the sea. This would displace large segments of population living in these areas. Many of these people are already among the weakest in an economic sense.
These displaced populations will have nowhere to go and will become refugees, similar to the refugees of a war. Currently the definition of refugees under the UNHCR is that a refugee is a person who "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." (From the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees).
It is important to notice that people who have lost their homes, their lively hoods and just about everything, because the lands they have lived in traditionally for thousands of years are a group of people who are not covered under this definition. To paraphrase Socrates, I am neither a Greek nor an Athenian; but, a citizen of the world.
As such we believe it is our humble duty to propose that the definition of refugees as defined by the UNHCR be changed to include people displaced by climate change. Perhaps greater minds are already dealing with this issue and we are only adding our voice in support of these great minds. This small step will provide a giant leap of relief for millions who may unwittingly be born refugees 50 years from now.
Sincerely
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.