Oh brother, here we go (again)!
Australian Refugee Council President, Phil Glendenning: “This is a new cohort of people who are emerging, the rest of the world needs to pay attention.”
Never mind that the release a week or so ago of the latest UN report on the climate admitted to a “lull in warming” for the last 15 years or so.
Here is the story from New Zealand, originally written by AP but apparently re-worked at “Climate Progress” a publication of Soros’ Think Progress.
Readers may wish to go back to our previous post on Kiribati to learn about the massive engineering project the government there might like to undertake (they will need your $$$).
Climate Progress:
If ocean levels rise by as much as three feet by the end of the century, as predicted by the Fifth IPCC Assessment report released last week, the Pacific island nation of Kiribati — composed of 32 atolls — would mostly disappear.
The potential impacts on the 100,000 citizens of Kiribati, not to mention the millions of others living in low-lying island nations and coastal areas, of this climate change-induced forced exodus are already playing out in New Zealand where a Kiribati man is trying to convince the court that he’s a climate refugee.
“AF” came to New Zealand for “better prospects.” He is an “economic migrant” not a “refugee!”
The man, referred to as “AF” in hearings, and his wife came to New Zealand six years ago for higher ground and better prospects, according to The Associated Press. Since then, immigration authorities have twice rejected his argument that rising sea levels make it too dangerous for him and his family to return to Kiribati.
On October 16 the case will go before New Zealand’s High Court.
Bruce Burson, a member of New Zealand’s Immigration and Protection Tribunal, has said that the legal concept of a refugee is someone that is being persecuted, which requires human interaction. Burson also said that the man’s claim was rejected because the family’s predicament was the same as faced by the entire population of Kiribati.
As I mentioned in previous posts on the subject, there is a Leftwing internal squabble on-going between the faction that wishes to keep as its own, and the one wishing to take control of, the word “refugee.” Underlying both of the factions is the ultimate goal of pouring the ‘have-nots’ into the West to create chaos and bring “change.”
You can see the potential for an even greater stampede to the West from the third world if migrants like “AF” are successful.
The legal case remains a long shot, but one that deserves close attention due to the likelihood of similar cases in the future. Sea level rise impacts not only low-lying islands with small populations but also heavily populated coastal regions, such as Kolkata, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh.
I didn’t know that refugee advocates in Australia were pushing this new designation back in April. Here is Australia’s Refugee Council head honcho, Phil Glendenning. This is, of course, B.A. (before Abbott!).
In April the Refugee Council of Australia implored the Australian government to become the first nation in the world to recognize populations displaced due to changes in climate as “climate refugees.”
Phil Glendenning, president of the Refugee Council of Australia, told The Guardian, “These are people who are not suffering from persecution because of their beliefs, race or because they belong to a particular group.” As a result, “they don’t meet the Refugee Convention criteria but, nevertheless, there will be a need for people to be resettled because they have been displaced by climate change. This is a new cohort of people who are emerging, the rest of the world needs to pay attention.”
For more, see our ‘climate refugees’ category, here.
