Launch of the UK Toolkit on Climate, Disasters and Protection Claims

In October, Earth Refuge and Refugee Legal Support launched the first UK Practice Toolkit on Climate, Disasters and Protection Claims (‘the Toolkit’). The Toolkit brings together contributions from lawyers, academics and policy experts across the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the Refugee Law Initiative at the University of London, Qore Legal and Garden Court Chambers, as well as independent practitioners and consultants. It is designed to help lawyers in the UK identify where climate change and disasters are already relevant to the cases in front of them, and to weave those factors into existing asylum, protection and human rights arguments. A key piece of feedback from that conference was that in order for practitioners to start running protection claims with a climate dimension , they needed clear guidance on how to identify and build these claims within the UK immigration and human rights framework. As a practitioner, it is important to remember that the terms ‘climate refugee’ or ‘disaster refugee’ carry no legal weight. That said, the Refugee Convention is likely to apply only in a relatively limited range of claims arising in the context of climate change and disasters due to the requirement for human agency. Article 8, and in some cases Article 3, is likely to be more flexible than the Refugee Convention. The Toolkit is designed to support a practitioner from the first client interview to appeal, including applying for legal aid funding. This article was co-authored with Yumna Kamel, the Co-founder and Executive Director of Earth Refugee. Olivia is the Executive Director of Refugee Legal Support.