Page - 245 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

10 DisplacementandResettlement:Understanding… 245 hostcountry,aswellasfrompoliticalrepresentationandparticipation(Kibreab2003; Ramadan2013). Further, refugee initiatives are often conductedwith limited input fromthesupposedbeneficiariesof theaid(Silverman2008;HanafiandLong2010), thereby inhibiting the development of refugee communities into societal structures of thehost country andof theglobal economyat large (HanafiandLong2010). In contrast torefugeecamps,asylumpoliciesaimtoinitiate theprocessofresettlement for displacedpersons.Anasylum-seeker is onewhohas applied for refugeoutside their own country and is awaiting official refugee status in their new country of residence. The refugee campdweller is often not distinct from the asylum seeker, as applications for asylum start once an individual has arrived in a refugee camp, butalsocanbegin followingarrival toahost country legallybyobtainingaworkor studentvisa. Asylum-seekers,however,facemanybarriersintheprocessofresettlement.First, because of bureaucratic process and the sheer number of applicants, central to the experience of the twenty first century asylee is the experience of years ofwaiting (Rotter2016).Theasylum-seekingprocessalsorequirescostsassociatedwithtravel and paperwork fees, oftenmaking resettlement inaccessible tomanywhose liveli- hoods depend on it (Settlage 2009). Additionally, due to host citizens’ belief that asylum-seekers takemore than theygive socially, destinationcountriesmaybe less thanwelcomingin theirpublicpolicyaffectingacceptedasylees inaneffort todeter refugeesfromarriving.Astudyof theEuropeanUnionindicates thatcountriescom- pete in a race to the bottom for provision of services throughfive areas of asylum policy: ‘safe third country’ provisions, determination procedures, compulsory dis- persalpolicy,welfarevouchers,andobstaclesfromemployment(Thielemann2004). Critically, because thenation-state holds exclusive control over thebodies in its territory,therightofasylumfollowingfrominternationallawisgenerallyunderstood as a right for the state to grant or deny, rather than the right of an individual to claim (Boed 1994). To be granted asylumas a refugee, according to theUN1951 RefugeeConvention, onemust have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” (UnitedNational 1951). As outlined above, the construction of climate-inducedcalamitiesas“natural”disasters, therefore, influencestheperceived legitimacyof resulting claims to refugeehood and asylum (Shacknove 1985). That is, insofar as events such as hurricanes and droughts are interpreted as apolitical tragedies,thepresumedcontractbetweencitizenandstatethatgroundsrefugeepolicy isneverbroken, thus lackingasufficient claimofpersecution. 10.4 CaseStudiesofEnvironmentalMigration Therisksassociatedwithclimatechangevarygreatlybetweendifferentgeographic locations and different social structures (IPCC2014). Correspondingly, themech- anismsbywhich climate change can influence theflowofpeople also varywidely from place to place, with corresponding sets of losses and damages faced by the