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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
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Titel
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Untertitel
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Autoren
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Verlag
- Springer Open
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Abmessungen
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Seiten
- 580
- Schlagwörter
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Kategorien
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima