Environmental migrants: UN recent and “soft” sensitivity v. EU deafening silence in the New European Pact on Migration and Asylum

Abstract

Migrations linked to environmental degradation phenomena are increasingly gaining attention within the international community. The following work intends to compare the recent European Pact on Migration and Asylum of the European Commission, not dealing with the issue of environmental migrants, with the increased sensitivity of the United Nations in the field of recognition and protection of these subjects at the international level. The silence of the European Union is all the more serious considering that EU secondary legislation does not expressly admit environmental migrants to subsidiary protection. At this point, national legislation remains the main instrument to provide protection towards people affected by climate disasters in their country of origin.