SLP 08 (2014)

The purpose of this concluding chapter drafted by the editors of this book is a reflection of conclusions arrived at by the authors of individual chapters and contemplation of possibilities offered by recent international law to persons in need of protection and of their future development. ͷ. Improper refugees and their specific position in recent international law As has been mentioned, the first thematic level treated in the book is relating to the fact that the sources and forms of forced migration significantly exceed the scope of the Convention on the Status of Refugees, which was adopted in reaction to repeated massive waves of forced migrants escaping persecution in their country of origin. Contemporary international law either has no response to the “new” forms of forced migration, 2 or it is very slow in finding any answer. This is the issue that inspired the first three parts of the book (designated as I. - III.): the first one defined a general phenomenon of so-called improper refugees and the other two analyzed in detail the position of the two key groups of such migrants – environmental refugees and war refugees. ͷ.ͷ Environmental refugees The first analyzed category of forced migrants was so-called environmental refugees. Two main forms of the sources of migration may be identified. The first group consists of migrants who are forced to leave due to long-term deteriorating natural conditions in their country of origin, gradually depriving them of any chance to physically live (climatological changes, land becoming non-arable, deterioration of waters, or total extinction of the territory). The situation of such refugees and possible solutions, or lack thereof, offered by contemporary international law are described by the example of migrants from so-called drowning islands. It is obvious that international law has not even started to form a response to the situation of these improper migrants. The debates have been pursued at the doctrinal level; however, as suggested by the chapter of Milan Lipovský, the debates’ conclusions have failed to suggest any satisfying solution of the situation of those refugees without adopting new international regulation. The first judgments of courts of New Zealand deciding on applications for international protection of migrants from the drowning islands, considered in detail by Barbora Matějková in her chapter, clearly show that the existing legal framework of the Convention on the Status of Refugees is absolutely insufficient. The second group is composed of migrants as part of urgency migration situations caused by natural disasters. As Pavel Šturma suggests in his chapter the need has been 2 Improper refugees, as we define them, had undoubtedly existed before the adoption of the Convention of the Status of Refugees. However at the time of the adoption of the Convention, the massive and poignant nature of such forms of forced migration did not reach such a level that might persuade the states to implement coordinated action in the form of adoption of a special international regulation. A special role, as it is even today, could be assigned to the fact that the states were (and are) afraid of having too extensive a definition of those in need, to whom the states would be obliged to guarantee a certain extent of rights and support should such people find themselves on the territory of those states.

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