Germany, 12/17/2020

Conditions in Afghanistan arising from COVID-19-related lockdown measures are sufficiently adverse as to give rise to an Article 3 ECHR-based non-refoulement obligation in the case of a young Afghan man with no social support network facing return to Kabul.

Norway, 11/23/2011

In deportation cases, the state is required to consider a proposed internal relocation alternative that is reasonable, and in so doing it must have regard, amongst other things, to country information revealing serious difficulties associated with the impact of persistent drought on a person’s ability to support himself, in this case through livestock keeping. The case focuses primarily on a procedural law question concerning which provision of domestic law should be followed, but it is important to the extent that it reflects a recognition of the relevance of environmental factors when determining the reasonableness of an internal relocation alternative.

United Kingdom, 10/18/2006

In the decision Lady Hale makes a statement obiter dictum concerning the limited scope of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. She states: ‘People fleeing national and international wars, famine or other natural disasters are referred to as refugees, and offered humanitarian aid by the international community, but they do not generally fall within the definition in the 1951 Convention.'

United Kingdom, 6/28/2011

An important decision establishing that the European Court of Human Rights can protect people from refoulement in situations where the conduct of the parties to a conflict can be established as the 'predominate cause' of a humanitarian crisis. In that case, the legal test has regard to an applicant’s ability to cater for his most basic needs, such as food, hygiene and shelter, his vulnerability to ill-treatment and the prospect of his situation improving within a reasonable time-frame.

United Kingdom, 7/6/2000

Lord Hope quotes Dawson J when the latter refers by the way to epidemic, natural disaster and famine in the context of the definition of the refugee in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

United Kingdom, 11/19/2008

The tribunal recognizes a Zimbabwean teacher as a refugee and also finds removal would violate Article 3 ECHR in the context of political violence including, but not limited to, discriminatory deprivation of humanitarian relief in the context of drought- and flood-related food insecurity.

Australia, 10/5/2012

A Fijian national sought and was denied recognition of refugee status in Australia owing to a fear of being persecuted on the basis of his political opinion. One aspect of his expression of political opinion was criticism of government cyclone response.

France, 12/18/2020

This case concerns the decision by the court of appeal of the Bordeaux region to dismiss an appeal by the state challenging an earlier judicial decision to grant a temporary residence permit to a Bangladeshi national with serious respiratory illness, whose condition, it was argued, would be made considerably worse if returned to Bangladesh owing, in part, to the adverse impacts of air pollution in the country. The decision of the Bordeaux court was appealed and reversed by the Supreme Administrative Court of France in December 2021.

Germany, 12/17/2020

Conditions in Afghanistan arising from COVID-19-related lockdown measures are sufficiently adverse as to give rise to an Article 3 ECHR-based non-refoulement obligation in the case of a young Afghan man with no social support network facing return to Kabul.

Norway, 11/23/2011

In deportation cases, the state is required to consider a proposed internal relocation alternative that is reasonable, and in so doing it must have regard, amongst other things, to country information revealing serious difficulties associated with the impact of persistent drought on a person’s ability to support himself, in this case through livestock keeping. The case focuses primarily on a procedural law question concerning which provision of domestic law should be followed, but it is important to the extent that it reflects a recognition of the relevance of environmental factors when determining the reasonableness of an internal relocation alternative.