La tutela dei "migranti climatici" nel diritto internazionale

Climate change represents one of the most pressing challenges for the international community. Its catastrophic consequences are capable of posing a serious threat to the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. This is particularly true for all those countries that are economically disadvantaged, unable to take adequate measures to counter and mitigate these effects. In the long run, due to rising sea levels, some of them might even disappear, raising various questions regarding the alleged legal extinction of states that no longer have their own territory. In this context, migration is not only a logical, but also the only choice for some people most exposed to certain risks. As highlighted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), through the publication of a document in October 2020, the possibility of recognising the refugee status to 'climate migrants' should not be automatically excluded, on the basis of the absence of climate change among the grounds mentioned in Article 1 of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. In addition, the recent decision of the UN Human Rights Committee in the case Teitiota v. New Zealand, acknowledged that climate change is capable of triggering non-refoulement’s obligations, whenever return to the country of origin may pose serious risks to the right to life and the prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. Finally, it is worth to remember that all migrants are human rights holders and in recent years climate litigations have contributed to a strengthening of states’ obligations, going so far as to recognise the possibility, for citizens of foreign countries, to invoke a violation before the courts of the responsible country for failure to fulfil its climate obligations climate (see the judgment in Neubauer et al. v. Germany).