Dissappearing Nations: Youth Statelessness at the Frontline of Climate Change

One of the major problems that will be induced by climate change is the disappearance of nation-states. With rising sea levels many island nations will simply cease to physically exist. This issue is particularly pressing for the Pacific Island Countries and Territories, whose low lying islands are under threat. What does this mean for the young people who will be left stateless? Looking at indigenous people’s practices can help us imagine a positive future for youth at risk of climatic statelessness.

What is climatic statelessness?

The UN definition of a Stateless person is “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”. This definition focuses on a persons’ legal status, reflecting the concerns of the time drafting: preventing deprivation of nationality due to mass discrimination, gender-based discrimination and general gaps in nationality law.

The existing definition overlooks the emerging threat of climatic statelessness. The rate of global mean sea level rise is increasing, averaging over 4mm/year. The disappearance of island nations within the lifetime of today’s youth is a real possibility. When nation-states disappear, what happens to the population left behind? Once a state ceases to have a sovereign land, in theory, it ceases to exist. However, it is likely that other states would continue to recognise these displaced states for an interim period. Indeed, some countries are taking steps towards displaced nationhood: Tuvalu’s Future Now Project plans to digitise government services and archives, creating a ‘digital nation’ which could shift to another location. This means the population is unlikely to face an immediate loss of legal citizenship status.

On the other hand, the problems of statelessness remain. There is a significant risk that people will not able to access the rights attached to their nationality. This is due to the constraints of operating a government in exile (on another country’s territory). Additionally, most of the population is likely to have been displaced before an island fully disappears. Displacement driven by disasters and climate change will therefore put many at risk of statelessness. When displaced, it becomes necessary to prove links to a home country and the risk of identity documents going missing is increased. Climatic statelessness encapsulates all of these stateless situations that may arise as a result of the current climate crisis.

The implications of statelessness are devasting. The importance of the right to a nationality for children is recognised in Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Statelessness places a substantial barrier in the way of children’s’ legal recognition and rights: no education, no healthcare, no right to work. Climate induced displacement further increases the vulnerability of children: there are risks to their physical health, mental health and education. The intersection of statelessness and climate-induced displacement compounds these vulnerabilities.

What is being done?

It has long been recognised that migration will be a necessary aspect of global adaption to global warming. In 2010, the Cancun Agreements were agreed at the UN. They invited action on “measures to enhance understanding, coordination and cooperation with regard to climate change induced displacement, migration and planned relocation”.

Understanding of the intersection of statelessness, youth and climate induced displacement were originally limited. The 2014 Global Action Plan to End Statelessness produced by the UN did not mention the climate at all. However, in recent years this is changing. In 2020 IOM and UNICEF published significant guiding principles for children on the move in the context of climate change. This work has helped spotlight the future risks that climate-displaced children face and the importance of increasing legal protections for stateless children. There are three key examples of legal protection frameworks: nationality laws to reduce statelessness, legal frameworks to identify statelessness and nationality laws to resolve statelessness.

Firstly, changing nationality laws to lower the likelihood of statelessness. Recommendations from a 2022 report on climate change and statelessness in the Pacific argue that this is important in sustaining cross-border nations as they are forced to migrate, reducing the future numbers of stateless and climate-displaced children.

For children who do become displaced and stateless, Stateless Determination Procedures (SDPs) can help. SDPs are national processes which identify stateless individuals, granting them legal residence. Action 6 of the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness highlights that SDPs should be used on arriving migrants. This is crucial for displaced stateless children crossing international borders as it allows their statelessness to be identified and gives them extra protection.

Finally, for children who are born displaced, changing nationality laws to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s right of ‘nationality from birth’ would be beneficial. This highlights the importance of a well implemented SDP.  In cases such as Sweden unclear guidelines prevent statelessness being accurately identified, leaving children born stateless in legal limbo.

These are important first steps towards protecting children at risk of climate induced displacement and statelessness. SDPs and more expansive citizenship laws help to protect children’s right to nationality. They remain, nonetheless, small steps. The Environmental Justice Foundation has highlighted the overall “largely inapplicable and inappropriate” nature of international statelessness and refugee policy for displacement in a climate crisis context. SDPs are individual-level procedure that seems ineffective in dealing with large-scale population movement. Additionally, legal changes often only reduce legal statelessness, without addressing the imposing issue of statelessness as a lived reality (rather than a legal category). More needs to be done to find solutions that stretch beyond a purely legal framework.

How can youth intervene?

Youth can advocate for more concrete solutions that anticipate our future challenges. I argue that we should turn to indigenous peoples to for this knowledge. Indigenous peoples, whose systems of governance far outdate the modern nation-sate, have carved out places for themselves within nation-states. They have also been at the forefront of the effects of climate change and environmental damage for decades. Turning to examples of how indigenous groups have survived and maintained belonging and culture provides valuable lessons for the future.  

Firstly, we need to carefully consider the costs of planned relocation. The history of Nauru offers interesting lessons. The population of Nauru (located in Micronesia) was offered relocation in 1963, due to environmental damage caused by mining. This offer was rejected as the territory they were offered, Curtis Island, would remain under Australian sovereignty, effectively forcing the Nauru people to relinquish their Nauruan citizenship. This brings to the fore colonial histories and tensions that arise during relocation plans. The Pacific Resilience Partnership has published guidance that advocates for ‘bottom up’ relocation consultation based in traditional/indigenous knowledge. Working from the ‘bottom up’ means involving those who are being affected in decision making processes. This means involving the voices of displaced and stateless children when it comes to nationality. Championing the voice of children within these processes can hopefully help to increase a feeling of belonging within their right to a nationality.

Another way to deal with the issue of relocation is to push for states’ co-existence. In North America indigenous communities co-exist with the nation-states. These arrangements require “a different and more plural sovereignty arrangement”. Here the recognition of other sovereignties is not necessarily in conflict with a nation’s own sovereignty. This is a radical departure from state sovereignty that should be adopted if we want to ensure that entire nations successfully relocate to other states. This will help reduce those at risk of climatic statelessness by ensuring nationality remains effective throughout state relocation. These indigenous approaches to statehood are essential for a future where nations (including today’s youth) are able to migrate whilst retaining self-determination over their cultures and governance.

Recognizing migration as a necessary adaptive strategy and embracing indigenous knowledge might help us respond with policies that create cultural links and promote diversities of belonging. The movement of the Talagi from Tuvalu to Niue is an example of a successful climate-driven planned relocation. The two communities learnt each other’s language and shared resources: knowledge and access to the land. The move was agreed upon by local leaders, with an awareness and respect for the previous cultural ties of the communities. The ‘bottom-up’ approach meant that the relocation made sense for the communities and was conducted with equal respect for the sovereignties of each community. This success shows that there are positive solutions to climate-induced displacement that do not have to result in statelessness. Legal procedures to protect those who become stateless are crucial. However, these interventions from indigenous perspectives show that with open minds and respect for other nations we can preserve nationality through population movements.

We can build on this knowledge to reimagine a positive future for youth at risk of statelessness. The climate is changing. We know that migration is an inevitable aspect of this change and can already see climatic displacement occurring. As we go further into this changing world, we know we need to act. As part of this we should be demanding more protections for stateless individuals, learning from local and indigenous knowledge and advocating for bottom-up migration policies. It is the interest of young people worldwide to embrace migrating people and states. Reducing the risks of statelessness for those most at risk signals a future filled with hope for all.

About the Author:

Eleanor Thomas is a 24-year-old student from the United Kingdom. She is currently undertaking a masters in Migration Studies at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on the political agency of community-led Stateless campaigning. She is currently undertaking a placement with Statefree working on community wellbeing. 

This article is part of the IOM Blog Series: Youth Voices on Migration, Environment and Climate Change