Climate Displacement and Rising Crime: An Overlooked Challenge in Evolving International Law

Climate hazards and slow onset of environmental changes are increasingly pushing people to move from one place to another. Those who migrate, their livelihoods are often disrupted, this makes them more vulnerable to human trafficking, terrorism, exploitative labour conditions and unsafe urban environments. This movement usually effects the vulnerable groups of the society, such as small rural communities, women and children and elderly people. The term ‘climate refugees’, coined in the 1990s, migration due to climate change becomes a push factor and driving people to move in search of better opportunities or seeking greater chances of survival but because of harrasment in long documentation process and rejection forces them to indulge in crimes for survival. This is a danger to national security and regional instability and unemployment which give rise to criminal minds. Climate has made frequent displacement which impacted those communities who are not covered by existing national and international protocols and protection systems. The legal gaps will make the survival difficult and unstable future.