By definition a refugee is someone persecuted for their race, sex,
religion, or a plethora of other reasons and faces immediate danger to
themselves or their family. This week the standard definition of a refugee was
challenged as an unnamed man (due to legal reasons) argues his case for asylum
in New Zealand.
Law experts believe his appeal is likely
to be denied due to the nature of his persecution. This man comes from the
island nation of Kiribati and he states that sea level rise due to climate
change is his persecutor. According to the standard definition of climate
change he must be singled out, sea level rise effects the lives of all the
residents of Kiribati, an island nation at sea level or at its highest point
just above sea level. Due to the broad effect of climate change he is not
classified as a refugee due to the universal effect of climate change in
Kiribati.
With this court case, even if denied,
great changes to the legal definition of refugee will be made. Climate change
does have an indirect human persecutor as the man's lawyer argues. But even
with this defense the appeal is likely to be dismissed.
This man and his family are likely to be the first trickle of
water to breach the dam before the ensuing flood. As many areas experience a
change in climate agriculture will be greatly affected, people’s houses could
be destroyed, and all of those affected will be forced to relocate elsewhere,
mainly to the cities of the world. The climate refugee could in fact be the
normal decades from now. Cities could be crowded with people removed from their
homes by an inhuman foe.
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