Climate Change and Its Impact on Human Rights: A Study on the Displaced People in Bangladesh

Md Abdul Awal Khan PhD Candidate School of Law

University of Western Sydney

Introduction• Major impacts of climate change on human rights• Displaced people as the most affected group.• The need of comprehensive legal regime for the protection of

climate displaced people.

Short Description of Bangladesh

• Population: 150,493,658 (2011, World Bank)

• Total Area: 147,570 km2 • Government: Unitary

Parliamentary Democracy• Legal System: Common Law • Rivers: 7 Major, over 200 minor• Climate: tropical monsoon

Climate Change Scenario in Bangladesh

• South Asia is the most climate vulnerable region and Bangladesh ranks high in the list of vulnerable countries.

(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) , Third Assessment Report 2001.)

• Evident Climate Change Impacts Sudden and Intensified Flood Cyclone Unpredictable rainfall Extreme temperature Drought Sea-level rise

Event Flood Impact

1984 Inundated 52,520 sq-km, affected people 100,000, cost estimated at US$378 million.

1987 inundated over 50,000 sq-km, estimated damage US$ 1.0 billion, 2055 deaths

1988 Inundated 61% of country, estimated damage US$ 1.2 billion, more than 45 million homeless, between 2,000-6,500 deaths.

1998 1,100 deaths, inundated nearly 100,000 sq-km, rendered 30 million people homeless, damaged 500,000 homes, heavy loss to infrastructure, estimated damage US$ 2.8 billion.

2004 Inundation 38%, damage US$ 6.6 billion, deaths 700, affected people nearly 3.8 million.

2007 Inundated 32000 sq-km, over 85,000 houses destroyed and 1 million damaged, 1.2 million acres of crops destroyed, damage over $1 billion, 649 deaths. Source: National Plan for Disaster Management 2010-2015, Bangladesh Government and Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009.

Two thirds of the country is less than 5 meters above sea level.

These areas are susceptible to river, rain water and tidal flooding during storm.

Source: Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services( CEGIS), Bangladesh 2009.

Event

Source: Bangladesh Meteorological Department 2007 and Bangladesh Government and Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009.

Cyclone Impact 1985 11,069 deaths

1991 138,882 deaths

1997 155 deaths

2007 (SIDR) 3363 deaths , affected 8.7 million people, displaced 650,000 people.

2009 (AILA) 190 deaths, affected 4.82 million people,

2009 (BIJLI) Displaced 200,000.

Strom surges are higher in Bangladesh than in neighbouring countries because the Bay of Bengal narrows towards north.

In recent years general cyclonic activity has become more frequent in the Bay of Bengal.

Tracks of Cyclones over last 50 YearsSource: Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services, Bangladesh 2009 and Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009.

Source: National Plan for Disaster Management 2010-2015, Bangladesh Government. Earth Policy Institute Report 2010. Various governments reports and peer reviewed literatures on Bangladesh.

Event Impact

Heavy rainfall 333mm in July 2009 (record in last 60 years) and landslide killed 124 people.

Extreme temperature

Lowest temperature recorded 3 degree in 2013 and highest 42.8 degree in 2009. caused displacement

Drought 21% less rain in northern districts in the same year. Drought observed even in coastal zone. caused displacement.

Sea-level rise 1 meter sea level rise may submerge 17.5% of total land. May displace 40 million people. (IPCC, Second Assessment Report 1995).In 1995 Bhola island was undergone water and displaced 500,000. Lohachara island (in Ganges delta) was submerged in 2006.

Climate Change and Human Rights• Impact on the Right to Life • Impact on the Right to Adequate Food• Impact on the Right to Water• Impact on the Right to Health and • Impact on the right to Adequate Housing

United Nations, General Assembly, GA Res A/HRC/10/61 HRC, 10th session, Agenda item2 (15 January 2009).

Human Rights Protection under the Constitution of Bangladesh

• The Right to Life : Article 32, • The Right to Adequate Food, (Water): Article 15(a)• The Right to Health: Article 18(1) and • The Right to Adequate Housing : Article 15(a)

Human Rights Protection under International LawThe Right to Life

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 6• The Convention on the Rights of the Child(CRC), Article 6 • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 3

The Right to Adequate Food

• UDHR, Article 25• ICESCR, Article 11 • CRC, Article 24 (c);• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Article

25 (f) and Article 28(1); • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination (ICERD), Article 5 (e).

The Right to Water

• Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water (Articles. 11 and 12);

• not explicitly mentioned in ICESCR, the right is seen to be implicit in Articles. 11 (adequate standard of living) and 12 (heath).

• General Comment No. 15 provides further guidance on the normative contents of the right to water and related obligations of States.

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW), Article 14(2) (h);

• CRPD, Article 28(2) (a); refer to access to water services in provisions on an adequate standard of living,• CRC, Article 24(2) (c). To ensure clean drinking water is as part of

the States obligation.

The Right to Health

• UDHR, Article 25• CEDAW, Articles 12 and 14(2)(b); • ICERD, Article 5 (e) (iv); • CRC, Article 24; • CRPD, Articles 16(4), 22(2), and 25; • International Convention on the Protection of the Rights

of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW), Articles 43(1)(e), 45(1) (c), and 70;

• ICESCR, Articles 7 (b) and 10.

The Right to Adequate Housing

• ICESCR, Article 11;• UDHR, Article 25(1); • ICERD, Article 5 (e) (iii); • CEDAW, Article 14(2)(h); • CRC, Article 27(3); • ICRMW, Article 43(1)(d);• CRPD, Articles. 9(1)(a), and 28(1), 28(2)(d).

Problem dealing with the climate displaced people

• Lack of widely accepted definition• Unclear international legal status: no protection under

‘The 1951Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees’.

• No status in Bangladeshi Law.

The need of comprehensive legal regime for the protection of Climate Displaced People.

• To face climate change challenges• Human rights protection• National Security

The Quest for a Legal Framework

Legal and policy development/ reform• Establishment of the Status of the climate displaced people • Legal protection of major human rights • Climate change litigation rights • Adaptation policies• Determination of State responsibility to combat against climate change• effective management of climate change trust fund Monitoring body• Separate and independent climate change body• climate change Ombudsman

Thank You.

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