Samenvatting

Refugees and internally displaced people who flee their homes due to environmental threats and far-going degradation which destroys their living conditions are not well-protected under international law. Refugee law focusses on political refugees. Establishing principals similar to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) regime, (which is limited to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing), could offer a solution for the lack of protection of environmental refugees. The obligation to establish this system could be based on the same obligation that forms the basis of the establishment of the R2P regime itself: the international obligation to prevent large scale suffering. This obligation corresponds with changed notions regarding state sovereignty and with the moral and legal obligations emanating from various human rights treaties. In first instance, according to R2P, the primary responsibility to take protective measures lies with the state itself. Secondly, the international community has a responsibility to assist. Lastly, the international community has a responsibility to respond duly and in a decisive manner when a state is unable or unwilling to provide protection for its citizens. The international community is equipped with a broad range of instruments under R2P that can be employed to protect environmental refugees. These instruments allow for custom-made solutions, which are absent in most traditional legal instruments