Five Steps We Must Take to Protect Refugees in the Future

The author contends that the current international refugee system is under severe strain and fails to protect those displaced by climate change because they do not meet the 1951 Convention's definition of fleeing political persecution. To address this, the document proposes five steps: reforming the UN Refugee Agency's budgeting to be more predictable and binding; drafting a new legal treaty with a modernized definition of refugees; establishing a review mechanism for country accountability based on the Montreal Protocol model; utilizing digital technologies like blockchain for identification and banking; and integrating refugees into sustainable global value chains. The author calls for leadership from Canada and Denmark to drive these reforms within the UN system.

• Climate change is driving global migration and displacement, with the potential to create a refugee crisis that exceeds the scale of the Syrian conflict.
• The existing international refugee framework is inadequate because the 1951 Convention definition of a refugee is limited to those fleeing political persecution, leaving climate-displaced persons and internally displaced persons (IDPs) without legal status.
• The UN Refugee Agency requires a budget overhaul to move away from disproportionate pledges toward predictable and binding assessed country contributions, similar to the funding models of the World Health Organization or UN Environment.
• A new legal treaty is needed to modernize the definition of refugees and establish clear rights and obligations for countries regarding international security and human rights standards.
• Digital innovations, including blockchain, digital money, and virtual IDs from companies like Microsoft and Alibaba, can provide refugees with essential identification and access to banking services.

APA

Axworthy, L., & Vaughan, S. (2018). Five Steps We Must Take to Protect Refugees in the Future. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/insight/five-steps-we-must-take-protect-refugees-future

Chicago

Axworthy, Lloyd, and Scott Vaughan. Five Steps We Must Take to Protect Refugees in the Future. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018. https://www.iisd.org/articles/insight/five-steps-we-must-take-protect-refugees-future.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Axworthy |first1=Lloyd |last2=Vaughan |first2=Scott |title=Five Steps We Must Take to Protect Refugees in the Future |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=16 March 2018 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/insight/five-steps-we-must-take-protect-refugees-future |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{axworthy2018five, author = {Axworthy, Lloyd and Vaughan, Scott}, title = {{Five Steps We Must Take to Protect Refugees in the Future}}, publisher = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/insight/five-steps-we-must-take-protect-refugees-future}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }