Climate refugees in Turkish and international law: A study within the context of the principle of non-refoulment

Climate change and disasters have been one of the major causes of human mobility throughout history. Today, the increase in climate-based migration movements reveals the necessity of conceptual recognition and definition of these migration movements in international arena. It is also necessary to determine the legal protections that these people can benefit from. In this study, those who leave their country as a result of the negative effects of environmental causes and disasters are characterized as climate refugees. Then, it is determined that the protection statuses envisaged at the international level cannot provide appropriate and effective protection to these persons. The question of the extent to which climate refugees can be protected under Turkish law was then addressed, and it was determined that these persons cannot have full and complete protection under Turkish law. After determining that climate refugees cannot be protected under both international and national existing legal regulations, the question of whether these persons can alternatively be protected in the context of the principle of non-refoulement is examined. Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) regulates the prohibition of torture (and inhuman or degrading treatment). Accordingly, the issue of whether the principle of non-refoulement can be applied to climate refugees within the scope of inhuman or degrading treatment has been tried to be revealed within the framework of whether the economic and social rights of climate refugees will be violated as a result of the negative effects of climate change and disasters, in line with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Article 3. In addition, the possible developments regarding Article 3 of the ECHR for climate refugees have been addressed both on the protection of the persons concerned and on Turkish law. It has been proposed that the the principle of non-refoulement should be used, in a rightsbased approach against climate change and disaster-induced migration, which is driven by survival concerns and is expected to affect hundreds of millions of people in the not too distant future.