Legal analysis and research in the Pacific on admission and stay in disaster and climate change contexts

September 1, 2020
Events

The Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), under the Pacific Response to Disaster Displacement (PRDD) project, is set to undertake a legal analysis and research on national and regional policies, laws, and effective practices in the Pacific on admission and stay in disaster and climate change contexts. This is part of emerging efforts to strengthen public policies and the institutional capacity of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) to develop and implement guidelines, policy instruments, regional tools, and/or frameworks regarding disaster displacement. This includes policies and practices at the national and regional level that can be used to facilitate safe, orderly, and regular human mobility in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change.

A consultant, Mr. Bruce Burson, along with Professor Richard Bedford and Ms Charlotte Bedford have been commissioned to undertake this consultancy for the PDD. The predecessor to the PDD, the Nansen Initiative, also worked closely with Mr. Burson and Prof. Bedford, including for the 2013 report on Clusters and Hubs: toward a regional architecture for voluntary adaptive migration in the Pacific.

By means of a desk-based literature review, the consultancy will begin to build the relevant evidence base necessary to provide guidance and advice to States on possibilities for a Regional Framework and/or Guide for Humanitarian Entry and Stay, through mapping and systematization of existing legislation, policy instruments, effective practices and standards, as well as gaining a better understanding of temporary human mobility flows and dynamics (e.g. migration or displacement) between Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) who are members of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). In addition, the consultancy will also map such policies, practices, standards and flows into New Zealand and Australia as PIFS Member States with significant temporary inflows of nationals of PICTs.

The output of this consultancy will be directly relevant for the subsequent consultations with PICTs and the possible development of a Guide on Humanitarian Admission and Stay for people displaced or compelled to move across borders or remain in-country in the context of disasters linked to natural hazards, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation, an expected result of the PRDD project.

Image © Fiji Red Cross 2020 – Tropical Cyclone Harold