The Climate Refugee Roundtable is by invitation only. It is open to individuals from NGOs in the sectors mentioned above as well as academics and lawyers working in the fields of forced migration, refugees and immigration law. Individuals acting in a personal capacity only (not mandated by their organisations)have attended from: The Refugee Council, The Refugee Legal Centre, Asylum Aid, Refugee Action, Amnesty International, Praxis, UNHCR, The Immigration Law Practitioners Association, The Immigration Advisory Service, PANOS, World Development Movement, Christian Aid, WWF, OneWorld, and Transition Towns.

The Roundtable met for the third time this February where consensus on terms of reference was achieved and the decision taken to convene every two months. The work has been extended in the latest meetings on April 23rd.

In all the previous Roundtables there as been considerable amount of discussion about whether campaigners should seek to support the re-negotiation of the 1951 Refugee Convention to extend protection to ‘Climate Refugees’. It is now clear that this is not considered to be a good option by any of the groups who attended. Refugee NGOs, in particular, have pointed out the danger of promoting the dilution of the protections in the 1951 Refugee Convention through the process of re-negotiation.

In the most recent session participants covered other options for addressing the protection deficit, including: the development of discretionary and humanitarian leave in the UK; the creation of a separate ‘environmental refugee’ convention; the building of a campaign around ‘the right to remain’ alongside the campaign for the right to asylum; and issues relating to adaptation and Copenhagen.
It was agreed that it would be a positive development to:
a) Undertake empirical research at a UK/EU level in order to better establish on ground realities.
b) Develop a series of high level meetings with the senior representatives of organisations across the refugee, human rights and environmental sectors to promote shared understanding and build cooperation.
c) Build a collective campaign to inform participation in international negotiations on climate change.

The Roundtable is still at an early stage of development and welcomes involvement from individuals working actively in the refugee, human rights, environmental, development and climate change sectors. Attendance is at this stage restricted to participants from these and the Academic sector only. If you are interested in becoming involved or would like to know more about the Roundtable please contact Hannah by email on hannah_at_coinet.org.uk.

The next meeting is scheduled for June 2009.

The Third Sector Initiative
In late 2008 COIN was awarded one of four grants by the Baring Foundation to undertake a joint Third Sector Initiative. The project aims to facilitate knowledge and generate new perspectives on how the non-environmental voluntary sector will be affected by climate change – particularly fundamental aims and principles. Our work is focused on the refugee and human rights movement and builds upon two years of strategic engagement with organisations across this sector.

Alongside COIN, three other core partners will drive the initiative: The Community Development Foundation, The National Council for Voluntary Organisations and The Institute for Development Studies. Their work will engage community anchors, vulnerable communities and children and youth organisations respectively. The results of the joint work will be shared with other practitioners and policy makers and we hope to release a collaborative report later in the year.

The initiative sees COIN working with five project partners – Asylum Aid, The Refugee Council, The Welsh Refugee Council, Amnesty International (international secretariat) and Refugee Action – to support them to assess and address how climate change will affect their fundamental principles and charitable aims.

Work began at the beginning of February 2009 and implementation strategies are currently being developed with each individual partner. Support to each organisation will differ but likely activities include trustee and staff workshops, support to carbon audit the organisations and to develop longer term emission reductions strategies, and assistance to develop campaign materials and strategy.
COIN believes there is an urgent need for greater collaboration between the refugee, human rights and environmental sectors. Each has considerable expertise to contribute and it is hoped that COIN’s work, alongside that of other core Third Sector Initiative partners will lead to the establishment of a powerful and innovative coalition.

The ‘Climate Refugee’ Roundtable convened jointly by COIN and Jean Lambert MEP operates alongside, but in support of this wider work with Refugee and Human Rights organisations.

If you would like to know more about the Third Sector Special Initiative please contact Hannah by email on hannah_at_coinet.org.uk