Published: Thursday, May 6, 2021
Kamala Harris. Photo credit: Sarah Silbiger - Pool via CNP/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom
Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a virtual roundtable with Guatemalan community leaders last month. She says climate change is contributing to the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. border. Sarah Silbiger - Pool via CNP/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom
Vice President Kamala Harris is describing climate change as a driver of migration from Central America, and she s pushing for adaptation efforts as a way to address it.
Her comments mark a seismic shift in federal policy as the Biden administration struggles to find an answer for the growing number of migrants fleeing from a region that s suffering from drought and corruption.
Refugees International Launches Task Force on Climate Change and Migration
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Expert Group Includes Former Senior U.S. Government Officials, Climate and Migration Specialists, and Leaders of Major International NGOs
WASHINGTON Refugees International announced today the launch of an expert task force on climate change and migration in response to an Executive Order (EO) issued by President Biden on February 4.
The executive order, which focused in large measure on the U.S. refugee admissions program, also directs the National Security Advisor to report to the president by August 3 on “Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration,” including options for the protection and resettlement of people at risk of displacement due to climate change.
Building Resilience in the Sahel in an Era of Forced Displacement
“The impacts of displacement present major challenges at every level of decision-making, but the opportunities for interventions that build resilience to climate change, foster social cohesion, and address gender and other disparities well they’re also very real as well,” said Ambassador Mark Green, President, Director, and CEO of the Wilson Center, during his opening remarks at a recent event hosted by the Wilson Center and Population Institute to explore innovative approaches to addressing the underlying drivers of forced displacement in the Sahel.
More than 80 million people are displaced worldwide, which is double the number from 10 years ago, and the number of internally displaced people in the Sahel has quadrupled in the last two years alone. “There’s a real imperative to solve displacement quickly,” said Elizabeth Ferris, Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of International Migration
Seeking Protection in a Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Future of Asylum (April 2021)
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NEW REPORT SHARES IMPACT OF COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO SEEK ASYLUM
WASHINGTON, DC A new report released today from Jesuit Refugee Service/USA (JRS/USA) and Georgetown University s Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM), Seeking Protection in a Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Future of Asylum , finds that restrictions put into place to protect public health during the pandemic will have long-lasting impacts on US and global asylum policies and that these restrictions amplified existing inequalities between displaced and host populations. The report, which provides snapshots of policies and their impacts from regions and countries around the world, makes clear that people seeking safety from persecution and violence have not been able to legally do so over the last year.