Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454) – Will be Offered 2-6 March 2020 at Monash Law School
Human rights and access to justice, will be increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change. This will manifest in a multitude of ways, with the issue of climate displacement providing perhaps the most graphic example in this regard.
The scale of climate displacement is likely to dwarf current levels of displacement throughout the world caused by conflict, disaster and poorly planned development projects. While estimates of the scale of future climate displacement are notoriously difficult to prove with any precision, it is certain that tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people will be forced by the consequences of climate change to flee their homes and lands, and in some instances, their countries. International and national laws and institutions are arguably not yet capable of ensuring that the rights of climate displaced persons will be fully respected.
Offered in March 2020, Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454)will provide a state of the art, up to date overview of the links between human rights and climate change, the phenomena of climate displacement, an understanding of the dynamics of climate displacement, the countries which are now and in future will be most heavily affected and the legal and policy measures that will be required to ensure that all climate displaced persons are afforded rights-based and viable solutions to their displacement.
By approaching these vexing issues in this manner, the course will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the legal issues involved, how the human rights of climate-affected persons can be invoked and where work is underway today to protect the rights of those affected, with an emphasis on Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kiribati, Maldives, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, United States and Tuvalu.
ClimateChange and Displacement will be taught by international human rights lawyer, Scott Leckie. He is the Director and Founder of Displacement Solutions (www.displacementsolutions.org), a global not-for-profit NGO dedicated to resolving cases of forced displacement throughout the world, in particular displacement caused by climate change and conflict. He also founded Oneness World (www.onenessworld.org), a think tank exploring questions of worldcentric political evolution and new forms of global governance. He hosts Jointly Venturing, the world’s only podcast dedicated to the question of world citizenship, and manages the One House, One Familyinitiative, an ongoing project in Bangladesh building homes for climate displaced families.
The course is open to all Monash students and others who may wish to audit the course. Information on the course can be found here: http://www.monash.edu/pubs/2019handbooks/units/LAW5454.html. This will be updated shortly. Hope to see you there in march 2020!