IOM Welcomes Inclusion of ‘Climate Migrants’, ‘Climate Migration’ in Draft Paris COP Agreement

IOM welcomes the inclusion of ‘climate migrants’ and ‘climate migration’ in the text agreed as part of the Paris climate change agreement.

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, was held in Le Bourget, France, near Paris. It resulted in a legally binding universal agreement on climate from the world’s nations.

The inclusion of specific language highlighting the importance of “promoting, protecting and respecting…the rights of migrants in vulnerable climate situations” is viewed as a significant breakthrough by those concerned with human mobility in all its forms.

“Now that climate change and migration are an integral part of the draft agreement, we can justifiably speak of ‘climate migration’ and ‘climate migrants’,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.

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