Island Nations Going Under: Submerged Statehood, Legal Protections Beyond Refugee Status.

Anthropocentric climate change exhibits asymmetric impacts on specific States, particularly those that endured economic, social, and political exploitation during the colonial era and underwent extensive fossil-fuel-based industrialisation. Within this context, the plight of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) stands out as a matter of distinct concern, notably, for two main reasons. First, having asserted their sovereignty during the decolonisation era, these Small Island Developing States (SIDS) regained command over their national trajectories. Yet, several decades later, these States find themselves at a perplexing juncture, with their destinies teetering on the precipice due to the pervasive menace of climate change. Compounding this predicament, Indo-Pacific Island States such as Tuvalu, Samoa, and Maldives inter alia, despite being among the least polluting and greenhouse gas-emitting States, confront disproportionate costs. This cost jeopardizes their territorial security on an unprecedented scale in international affairs, shaping emerging dynamics in the realm of statehood.

If a State cannot exist without a territory, then what happens to SIDS once their territory submerges? Loss of statehood is intertwined with challenges of communal and individual survival, as only States are considered full legal persons in international law. Therefore, with no territory or legal standing in the global geopolitical arena, the people of SIDS may become climate refugees, relying for their security on international cooperation and/or multilateral/bilateral agreements with other States in several areas and across different legal regimes. Second, those displaced by climate change are frequently mislabelled as ‘refugees’, a legal term of art that does not extend protection to those forced to relocate for environmental reasons. Consequently, existing international refugee law proves to be a complex and challenging framework for addressing migration resulting from climate change impacts. Likewise, approaching climate-induced displacement from the perspective of international environmental law presents several inherent limitations. Considering these existing legal gaps and limitations, how should international law protect people fleeing the impacts of disasters and other serious environmental harm?

These are some of the queries that would benefit from further exploration employing an interdisciplinary approach synthesising doctrinal legal analysis, comparative, and/or empirical methods along with legislative and ad hoc schemes developed by States, relevant institutions and (political) actors.

We invite applications tackling aspects of the above, from one or more of the above suggested angles and employing relevant methods for the planned project.