Réfugiés climatiques : statut et traitement
Current works on the forced migration area does not reveal the magnitude of the philosophical  and moral issues raised by the appearance of climate refugees on the international scene . Yet it is urgent to provide protection to them through international agreements. Philosophers who have studied the subject have been misled by both the multiplicity of terms and the lack of definitions. This work criticizes the current trend set by environmental activists who want to include people with various issues under the term of refugee. Trivializing the term of refugee is not only misleading but also dangerous. Eventually, the activists will turn to the Geneva Convention to demand that displaced populations be treated as refugees. But the Geneva Convention is not an appropriate tool to address the plight of these people. Moreover, we can not extend the status of refugees to include those people without losing the credibility and efficiency. Following the path taken by activists would lead us to give equal treatment to climate refugees and political refugees, which is a mistake. Our hypothesis is that the inhabitants of small island countries, in contrast to other populations require a broadening of the Geneva Convention. We shall argue that we have duties and responsibilities to them that we do not have to political refugees. To defend this view, we must clearly define what a climate refugee is and justify this term. We must therefore confront the notion of climate refugee to other competing concepts. Once the terms are defined, we will consider the ethical issues through the prism of global justice issues.  We will see that it is not enough to refer to causal responsibility to determine the members who should address the plight of climate refugees. This will lead us to argue that although attractive, the polluter pays principle is not an appropriate tool to guide our reflection. We will also be led to question the relevance of a global environmental institution.
philosophy climate refugees global ethics global justice environmental refugees