Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures
Disaster displacement is an increasing challenge in the context of climate change. However, there is a lack of research focusing on Europe as a destination area, including on the question how the normative protection gap with regard to cross-border disaster displacement is addressed from a European...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Climate |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.990558/full |
| _version_ | 1811185673151971328 |
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| author | Monika Mayrhofer Margit Ammer |
| author_facet | Monika Mayrhofer Margit Ammer |
| author_sort | Monika Mayrhofer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Disaster displacement is an increasing challenge in the context of climate change. However, there is a lack of research focusing on Europe as a destination area, including on the question how the normative protection gap with regard to cross-border disaster displacement is addressed from a European perspective. Against this background this article provides evidence from a European case study focusing on the role of disaster, such as droughts or floods, in asylum procedures in Austria. Based on a qualitative content analysis of 646 asylum decisions rendered by the Austrian appellate court (supplemented by qualitative interviews with relevant Austrian stakeholders), it is demonstrated that disasters are—to a certain extent—already taken into consideration in Austrian asylum procedures: impacts of disasters are not only brought forward by applicants for either leaving the country of origin or for not wanting or not being able to return. They are also increasingly discussed in the legal reasoning of judgments of the Austrian appellate court. The analysis shows that impacts of disasters play an important role mainly in decisions concerning persons from Somalia, and here primarily in the assessment of the non-refoulement principle under Article 3 ECHR and subsidiary protection. This can be regarded as a response to the protection gap—even though not necessarily applied consistently. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:34:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-60470aa08f584e7f9769fe5300359e96 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9553 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:34:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Climate |
| spelling | doaj.art-60470aa08f584e7f9769fe5300359e962022-12-22T04:21:39ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Climate2624-95532022-12-01410.3389/fclim.2022.990558990558Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum proceduresMonika MayrhoferMargit AmmerDisaster displacement is an increasing challenge in the context of climate change. However, there is a lack of research focusing on Europe as a destination area, including on the question how the normative protection gap with regard to cross-border disaster displacement is addressed from a European perspective. Against this background this article provides evidence from a European case study focusing on the role of disaster, such as droughts or floods, in asylum procedures in Austria. Based on a qualitative content analysis of 646 asylum decisions rendered by the Austrian appellate court (supplemented by qualitative interviews with relevant Austrian stakeholders), it is demonstrated that disasters are—to a certain extent—already taken into consideration in Austrian asylum procedures: impacts of disasters are not only brought forward by applicants for either leaving the country of origin or for not wanting or not being able to return. They are also increasingly discussed in the legal reasoning of judgments of the Austrian appellate court. The analysis shows that impacts of disasters play an important role mainly in decisions concerning persons from Somalia, and here primarily in the assessment of the non-refoulement principle under Article 3 ECHR and subsidiary protection. This can be regarded as a response to the protection gap—even though not necessarily applied consistently.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.990558/fullclimate mobility to Europedisaster displacementAustriaasylum proceduresdroughtfloods |
| spellingShingle | Monika Mayrhofer Margit Ammer Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures Frontiers in Climate climate mobility to Europe disaster displacement Austria asylum procedures drought floods |
| title | Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures |
| title_full | Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures |
| title_fullStr | Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures |
| title_short | Climate mobility to Europe: The case of disaster displacement in Austrian asylum procedures |
| title_sort | climate mobility to europe the case of disaster displacement in austrian asylum procedures |
| topic | climate mobility to Europe disaster displacement Austria asylum procedures drought floods |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.990558/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT monikamayrhofer climatemobilitytoeuropethecaseofdisasterdisplacementinaustrianasylumprocedures AT margitammer climatemobilitytoeuropethecaseofdisasterdisplacementinaustrianasylumprocedures |