Climate Induced Displacement and India's legal Vacuum: Rethinking Refugee Protection, Non-Refoulement and Complementary Protection

Tara Dubey

Climate Induced Displacement and India's legal Vacuum: Rethinking Refugee Protection, Non-Refoulement and Complementary Protection

Author(s)	Tara Dubey
Country	India
Abstract	Climate change is increasingly transforming patterns of human mobility. Rising sea levels, coastal erosion, floods, cyclones, droughts, extreme heat, desertification and the gradual destruction of livelihoods can make continued residence in a particular territory unsafe or impossible. Although climate-induced displacement is no longer merely an environmental concern, international and domestic legal systems have not developed an equally coherent framework for protecting persons compelled to move because of climate-related conditions. The expression “climate refugee” is widely used in public discourse, yet persons displaced exclusively by climate change do not ordinarily fall within the refugee definition contained in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. At the same time, international human rights law has increasingly recognised that returning a person to conditions involving a sufficiently serious and foreseeable risk to life or inhuman treatment may engage non-refoulement obligations. India presents a particularly important legal context. It is highly vulnerable to climate-induced displacement but has neither enacted a comprehensive refugee law nor created a statutory category for persons displaced across borders because of climate-related harm. Nevertheless, constitutional jurisprudence provides potentially significant protection. In M.K. Ranjitsinh v Union of India, the Supreme Court recognised a constitutional right against the adverse effects of climate change under Articles 14 and 21. This paper examines the limitations of the existing refugee regime, the relevance of non-refoulement, the potential of complementary protection and the constitutional basis for a rights-based climate-displacement framework in India. It argues that India should adopt a layered protection mechanism combining refugee law, constitutional safeguards, humanitarian protection, temporary protection, disaster management and planned relocation. Keywords: Climate-induced displacement; climate refugees; refugee law; non-refoulement; complementary protection; Article 21; Article 14; climate change; India; asylum; human rights.
Keywords	Human Rights, Refuggees, Non-Refoulement
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On	2026-09-14

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Climate Induced Displacement and India's legal Vacuum: Rethinking Refugee Protection, Non-Refoulement and Complementary Protection

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