Fleeing the Coming Storm: The Guiding Principles as a Roadmap for Climate Displacement
"Hurricane Laura" by Josiah Pugh is licensed under CC PDM 1.0
By Spencer Aitken
On Sunday, August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane, tearing through southern Louisiana towards Baton Rouge and New Orleans with over 150mph winds. By the next day, more than one million Louisianians were without power. The storm killed 82 people across 8 states and left destruction in its wake, like on Grand Ilse, Louisiana where 40-50% of houses disappeared. Many evacuated before the storm, but even after the storm evacuations were conducted due to heat concerns. This, however, is not new. The story of powerful storms is one imbedded in recent Louisiana history. Ida slammed into Louisiana on the anniversary of Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people and displaced around 200,000 people, thousands of which have not returned. Additionally, a year and two days prior to Ida Hurricane Laura struck Lake Charles, LA killing thirty people.
Yet increasingly powerful storms haven’t always been met by increasingly capable disaster response. While FEMA had positioned resources in anticipation of Ida, and the Red Cross was still actively supporting the relief efforts weeks later, disaster responses have not always been successful. For example, FEMA’s process for their critical needs assistance program has been frustrating for those in Louisiana. The critical assistance program was intended to provide eligible applicants with $500 for critical and lifesaving needs in the wake of Ida’s landfall, but some applicants reported confusing forms, no appeals process, and delays in actually receiving the money. In addition, while FEMA fixed their method of verifying homeownership, the old way denied Black applicants disproportionately. While the basis of effective disaster response can be found in the current system, the United States must build their capacity to respond to climate disasters like powerful hurricanes more effectively.
The United States can look to standards such as The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (hereinafter “The Guiding Principles”) to inform developing disaster response plans. The Guiding Principles are a set of non-binding principles presented to the UN Commission of Human Rights. They developed from a mandate given to Francis Deng, who conducted a study into the causes and consequences of internal displacement, internally displaced people's status in international law, the effectiveness of current arrangements, and ways to improve. The core of these principles are protections for internally displaced peoples (IDPs), or individuals who are displaced from their homes for a variety of reasons but who are still in their home country. In the international imagination, the group most thought of as IDPs are those fleeing armed conflict, violence, and human rights violations.
However, The Guiding Principles are not only applicable to those fleeing war or violence: The Guiding Principles envisions a larger category of individuals as IDPs. The Guiding Principles defines internally displaced persons as those forced to flee or leave their homes for reasons including war and human rights violations, but also extends the definition to those fleeing natural or human-made disasters. The Guiding Principles are divided into 5 sections covering general ideals of the principles, protections from displacements, protections during displacement, the standards of humanitarian assistance, and the return and reintegration of IDPs. This provides a roadmap for developing a comprehensive strategy of assistance. All these individuals have been forced to move, and The Guiding Principles aims to address the specific needs special to IDPs and the different phases of displacement, including return.
Effective assistance to people compelled to flee their homes must include efforts to mitigate the forces that cause flight in the first place. This can be done in countless ways including improved infrastructure, increased capacity building within cities, and even efforts as big as governmental actions towards combatting climate change. Principle 5, speaks towards countries respecting their international obligations to prevent and avoid conditions that could displace people. Especially important with climate disasters, this can be read to include international environmental obligations as well. On the other end of displacement are considerations concerning how to help people return if they wish. Principle 6 includes that displacements should not last longer than necessary. Likewise Principle 28 notes that facilitating return is the duty of the competent authorities. Principle 29 expands this by highlighting the duty to aid people in reclaiming their property and possession, or just compensation, when they return. These principles show the stages of internal displacement which are crucial considerations when determining the scope and timeline of a disaster response.
The Guiding Principles also highlight the need for the national government to ensure basics needs are available to those most affected during internal displacement events. This cuts through most stages of disaster response. Principle 7 states that if a displacement must occur, in the planning of that displacement authorities should ensure proper accommodations, safety, nutrition, and health. During a displacement event, Principle 18 pushes governments to provide, at a minimum, an adequate standard of life including food, water, shelter, clothing, and medical services. This is further pushed by Principle 19 which calls for access to medical care without discrimination. Ensuring that individuals affected by climate disasters have access to potable water and shelter is fundamental to plan out. Otherwise, further problems can, and likely will, develop as people struggle with both displacement and the lack of basic necessities.
Lastly, and perhaps most crucial for the United States, The Guiding Principles give some reminders of how to respond to a mass displacement justly and equitably. For example, Principles 28, 7, and 18 all mention endeavoring to include affected peoples in the planning and managing of displacement response. Though seemingly simple, it is a call to remember the agency and the humanity of people forced to flee. Further, Principle 4 states that a state should apply The Guiding Principles without discrimination based on any criteria including race, sex, national origin, legal or social status, disability, or age. This last point is especially important for the United States to remember when responding to climate driven displacement because of the disproportionate affect climate change has on socially vulnerable communities. An EPA analysis released days after Ida struck Louisiana showed just some of the higher risks facing indigenous, Latinx, and Black communities including that Native communities are 48% more likely to live in areas that will suffer flooding from rising sea levels and that Black communities will face higher mortality rates with increasing temperatures If aid and disaster response does not equitably and fairly help all individuals who are displaced and who suffer, not just those who have the resources to adapt, it will only serve to widen the chasms of injustice on the back of a natural disaster.
While The Guiding Principles provide a good roadmap for how to respond to climate-based displacement, the important point is that disaster response to increasingly common and powerful storms needs to be more fleshed out and more equitable. This must happen sooner than later: 2020 broke the record for most storms in one season with 30 storms, 13 of which became hurricanes. Storms are coming and people in the path are in danger; the question that remains is how the United States will mitigate displacement and support those forced to suffer and forced to flee.