84 Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change END NOTES END NOTES 24 International Law Commission (‘ILC’), ‘Final report of the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law’ (2025) (‘Final Report’), [35]–[36]; Declaration on Sea-Level Rise and Statehood (adopted by the Association of Small Island States, 23 September 2024); Declaration on the Continuity of Statehood and the Protection of Persons in the Face of Climate-Change Related Sea-Level Rise (adopted by the Pacific Island Forum, 6 August 2023) (‘Declaration on the Continuity of Statehood’); ILC, ‘Sea-Level Rise in Relation to International Law: Second Issues Paper’, UN Doc A/CN.4/752 (19 April 2022) 46–48; Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility (endorsed by the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum, 6–10 November 2023); Michel Rouleau-Dick, ‘Competing Continuities: What Role for the Presumption of Continuity in the Claim to Continued Statehood of Small Island States?’ (2021) 22(2) Melbourne Journal of International Law 357. 38 European Convention on Nationality (1997) (n 11) 23; Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession, opened for signature 19 May 2006, CETS No 200 art 14; Brazil Declaration and Plan of Action, adopted 3 December 2014; Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Relating to the Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa, signed 18 February 2024, art 23. 39 ICJ, Advisory Opinion (n 19) [364]. 25 Ibid, ILC Final Report, [38]. 26 ICJ, Advisory Opinion (n 19), [355]–[357], [363]. 27 UNHCR, Handbook (n 3) [53]. 28 ICCPR art 2; CEDAW art 2; CRC art 2; ICERD art 2; CRPD art 5. 29 S Nazrul Islam and John Winkel, Climate Change and Social Inequality (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Working Paper No 152, October 2017); UN Women, ‘How Gender Inequality and Climate Change Are Interconnected’, UN Women (Web Page, 27 February 2022) <https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/how-gender-inequality-and-climate-change-are-interconnected>. 30 Preambles of the UDHR and the ICCPR; ILC, ‘Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters’ in Yearbook of the International Law Commission (2016) vol 2, pt 2, UN Doc A/71/10, art 4; African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, opened for signature 27 June 1981, 1520 UNTS 217 (entered into force 21 October 1986) art 5; UN Human Rights Committee (‘UNHRC’), General Comment No.36: Article 6: Right to Life (3 September 2019) UN Doc CCPR/C/GC/36 (‘General Comment No. 36’). 31 UNHRC, General Comment No.36 (n 30) [26]; UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (‘CESCR’), General Comment No.12: The Right to Adequate Food (12 March 1999) UN Doc E/C.12/1999/5, [4] CESCR, General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water (20 January 2003) UN Doc E/C.12/2002/11, [3]; CESCR, General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (11 August 2000) UN Doc E/C.12/2000/4, [1], [3]; CESCR, General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing (13 December 1991) UN Doc E/1992/23, [7]; Sarah Joseph, ‘Extending the Right to Life Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: General Comment 36’ (2019) 19(2) Human Rights Law Review 347; Elizabeth Wicks, ‘The Meaning of “Life”: Dignity and the Right to Life in International Human Rights Treaties’ (2012) 12(2) Human Rights Law Review 199. 32 UNHRC, General comment No. 36 (n 30) [54], [61]; UNHRC, CCPR General Comment No. 20: Article 7 (Prohibition of Torture, or Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) (10 March 1992) [2]; Manfred Nowak, ‘Challenges to the Absolute Nature of the Prohibition of Torture and Ill-Treatment’ (2005) 23(4) Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 674; Gerrit Zach, ‘Definition of Torture’ in Manfred Nowak, Moritz Birk, and Giuliana Monina (eds), The United Nations Convention Against Torture and its Optional Protocol: A Commentary, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press, 2019) 23–71. 33  Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, adopted 16 June 1972, (1972) 11 ILM 1416, 1420 (‘Stockholm Declaration’) principle 24; Declaration of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, adopted 14 June 1992, (1992) 31 ILM 874, 877 (‘Rio Declaration’) principles 7, 27. 34 ILC, Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters (2016) preamble, arts 7–8. 35  Charter of the United Nations (entered into force 24 October 1945) 1 UNTS XVI, arts 1, 55, 56. It is also identified as a key duty that States owe one another under the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States, UNGA Res 2625 (XXV) (24 October 1970). 36 UDHR (n 2) preamble. 37 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 993 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 January 1976) arts 2, 11, 12 (‘ICESCR’); CRC art 4. See also Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 26 (2023) on children’s rights and the environment, in which the Committee underscored States’ extraterritorial responsibilities through international cooperation to mitigate environmental harms that threaten the realization of children’s rights; CRPD art 32; CPRMW art 64, 65. 40 ILC, Final Report (n 24) 36 [55]. See also Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession (2006) (n 41) article 14; Brazil Declaration and Plan of Action (2014) (n 38). 41 ICCPR, art 25; however, note that this article is limited to the right of nationals; Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change (Advisory Opinion) [2025] ICJ Rep [115], [140]–[142], [301]–[308], [364]. 42  Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, GA Res 53/144, UN Doc A/RES/53/144 (9 December 1998). 43  Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Part II Global Compact on Refugees, GA Res 73/12 (Part II), UN GAOR, 73rd sess, Supp No 12, UN Doc A/73/12 (Part II) (17 December 2018). 44 Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, An Independent Declaration on the Right of Persons with Experience of Forced Displacement or Statelessness to Participate in Decisions That Affect Them (Final Version with Commentary) (Report, 15 December 2025); See also Elizabeth Tan, ‘Leveraging Community-Based Protection in Evolving Operational Environments’ (Speech, UNHCR Standing Committee, 93rd Meeting, Geneva, 17–19 June 2025). 45 Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Conclusion No 106 (LVII): Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, UN Doc A/AC.96/1035 (6 October 2006). 46 Expert Group on Refugee, IDP and Statelessness Statistics, International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics (20 January 2023) 27 (‘IROSS’). 47 UNHCR, PMCS and Norwegian Refugee Council, Statelessness and Climate Change (Factsheet, October 2021); UNHCR Handbook (n 3) 6. 48 In UNHCR’s Global Trends 2025, approximately half of the world’s States are reported as having populations that are stateless or of undetermined nationality, leading to a global estimate of 4.5 million persons. UNHCR acknowledges that this figure is a significant underestimate of the true number of stateless persons globally. UNHCR, Global Trends 2025 (n 4), 47. 49 Christoph Sperfeldt, ‘Statelessness and Governance at the Periphery: “Nomadic” Populations and the Modern State in Thailand, Côte d’Ivoire and Lebanon’ in Tendayi Bloom and Lindsey N Kingston (eds), Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship (Manchester University Press, 2021) 201–2. 50 IROSS (n 46) 61–77. 51 A number of scholars have identified how the lack of enactment of SDPs by states hinders the ability of persons rendered stateless in the context of climate change to be protected. See: Michel Rouleau-Dick, ‘Sea Level Rise and Climate Statelessness: From “Too Little, Too Late” to Context-Based Relevance’ (2021) 3(2) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 287, 295, 302; Jane McAdam, Bruce Burson, Walter Kälin and Sanjula Weerasinghe, International Law and Sea-Level Rise: Forced Migration and Human Rights (Fridtjof Nansen Institute, 2016) 36; See broadly on the value of the establishment of SDPs in UNHCR Handbook (n 3), ‘Part Two; Procedures for the Determination of statelessness in UNHCR’ 25–44. 52 UNHCR Handbook (n 3) 25. A stateless person may simultaneously be a refugee. Where this occurs, it is important that each claim is assessed and that both statelessness and refugee status are explicitly recognized. 53 According to UNHCR, the 30 States that have established SDPs are: Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo (under UNSC Res 1244 (1999)), Latvia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay. Note: In Albania, Chile, Colombia, Portugal and Turkmenistan, the SDPs are not yet operational. In Côte d’Ivoire and the Netherlands, recognition of statelessness does not automatically result in a residence status or full rights under the 1954 Convention. 85