Abstract

Scientific experts tend to be unanimous about the climate changes that we are witnessing nowadays. Impacts such as a rise of ocean level, severe droughts and more frequent extreme meteorological events will affect population worldwide. Indeed, it can be argued that rights protected in international and regional human rights’ instruments could be violated following states’ inaction to handle global warming. Climate change will particularly induce forced migration by amplifying existing factors that could lead to migration such as economical, political and social factors. There are currently no specific legal instruments dedicated to the protection of climate-induced migrants. This is partly due to the fact that states are reluctant to shape policy responses. Consequently, it is relevant to explore various domains of Public International Law in order to find out the extent of protection provided to this category of migrants. The domains explored in this paper are the refugee law, the statelessness and the human rights law. After assessing a lack of protection for these migrants, some explanations will be given concerning the unwillingness of States to address this matter. This explanations include the state's sovereignty concept, the immigration policies and border control and the global governance system.