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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.