Against the idea of climate refugees: political refugeehood and the trap of lists

Should there be such a thing as climate refugees? This paper argues that there should not. It makes the argument that climate refugees do not exist. Drawing on the political theory on refugeehood and asylum, it argues that refugee status should not be linked to any specific event. Refugees are not those people fleeing a specific pre-set list of manifest events in the world. Refugee status should not be determined according to a closed or open list approach. The paper argues, instead, that refugees are those fleeing political oppression. This does not exclude all people moving, partly or wholly, due to climate specific reasons from refugeehood. Rather, it argues that what makes or breaks their claim to refugeehood is an answer to the question whether they face political oppression or not, and thus whether other ways of potential remedy are open to them. The paper thus proceeds by first outlining the normative underlying arguments for considering the existence of a "climate refugee" category, before offering a critique through the lens of a political concept of refugeehood. Finally, it will offer a positive argument for establishing who should be considered a refugee, arguing that some people fleeing climate related issues may still be considered refugees, though not primarily because of these climate related events themselves. Their claim, it will argue, would rather rest on their subjection to political oppression.