International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) Climate Displacement Research and Advocacy

HUMSI provides ongoing consultation services to support IRAP's research and advocacy efforts around climate displacement. This includes drafting support documents for legal practitioners, drafting policy analysis documents, supporting a data collection project to assess the scope of cross-border climate displacement, and strategizing to advocate for more humane policies to protect people displaced in the context of climate change.

Among other projects, HUMSI led research and writing efforts for IRAP's Practice Guide on U.S. Refugee Protection Claims Related to Climate Change and Environmental Disasters, which provides an overview of ways in which U.S. asylum and refugee resettlement can provide protection for individuals who, in whole or in part, are displaced due to environmental and climate-related factors. 

Climate of Coercion Research Project

HUMSI created and led a research project on the intersection of climate change with other root causes of cross-border displacement in collaboration with Stanford Law School, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). The research is based on in-person interviews HUMSI conducted with asylum seekers in Tijuana shelters. 

Download the Report (English):

Climate of Coercion: Environmental and Other Drivers of Cross-Border Displacement in Central America and Mexico 

Descarga el Informe (Español)

Clima de Coerción: Medioambiente y Otros Desencadenantes del Desplazamiento en Centroamérica y México

More Information: 

Webinar on Climate of Coercion report featuring Julia Neusner (HUMSI), Daniel Salazar (USCRI) and Ama Francis (IRAP)

JURIST Column by Julia Neusner: To Protect Climate-Displaced People, the U.S. Must Restore Asylum Access

USCRI Press Release: USCRI Releases Joint Report on Climate-related Displacement from Field Visit in Tijuana