Conference Call / Call for Papers

Conference on Human Rights, Environmental Change, Migration and Displacement

Vienna, 20/21 September 2012

Organisers
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, Vienna Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), Sciences Po, Paris

Purpose
The discussion on the rights of so-called “environmental migrants/refugees” has often focused exclusively on their (lack of) legal status. Though this issue remains of high importance, migration and displacement associated with environmental change, and climate change in particular, raises a whole range of human rights issues that have often been neglected: Human rights challenges arise pre- and post-displacement both in the country of origin and in the country of destination, as well as in the context of relocations.

However, human rights are also at stake long before displacement becomes inevitable – e.g. in the context of adaptation measures including “migration as adaptation”. Finally, human rights of persons staying behind are often overlooked.

This conference aims at encompassing the diversity of human rights challenges and at embracing different perspectives on how to deal with them. In this context, special emphasis will be put on the (potential) role of the European Union. Furthermore, the conference wants to shed light on the added value of human rights in the context of displacement and migration associated with environmental change. The conference will discuss human rights challenges from a theoretical and legal, but also from a practical perspective, and will therefore welcome presentations highlighting local experiences, policies and initiatives. The global level will also be addressed: following the aborted launch of the Nansen Principles, the question arises whether there is any room left for new frameworks and international arrangements.

Organisation
The conference marks the end of the ClimMig project, a research project funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund. Key results of the project will be presented during this event. The conference aims at bringing together human rights lawyers and experts as well as social scientists from diverse disciplines: anthropologists, political scientists, geographers, sociologists, economists, etc. Practitioners are also most welcome at the conference, and are invited to contribute and to present practical initiatives and steps forward.

The conference will be held in Vienna/Austria and will include plenary and panel sessions. Up to 30 participants will be selected to present their papers during the panel sessions. In addition, a poster session will be organized, which will provide junior scholars with the opportunity to present their work. Papers presented will be published at the project website and it is intended to publish selected papers in printed volume following the conference.

Topics
Presentations and posters on the following topics are particularly invited:

-          Civil and political rights;
-          Housing, land and property rights;
-          Right to food, water and health;
-          Human rights issues in the context of resettlement schemes;
-          Social protection;
-          Legal status of persons displaced/migrating, resettled populations;
-          Right to return;
-          Right to non-discrimination;
-          Rights of vulnerable groups;
-          Freedom of movement / Right to mobility;
-          Human rights issues in the context of “migration as adaptation”;
-          The role of the European Union in the context of migration and                                displacement associated with environmental change.

Sending an abstract
Abstracts of max. 250 words should be sent until 1 April 2012 to c4p.climmig@humanrights.at.  Papers and posters will be selected by the scientific committee by 30 April 2012. Submissions should also mention whether they are intended for a presentation, a poster, or both.

Further information on the Conference and the Call are soon available at www.humanrights.at/climmig

>> Information Folder Conference Call / Call for Papers

>> Draft Programme of the Conference