LA PROTEZIONE GIURIDICA DEI MIGRANTI FORZATI PER CAUSA CLIMATICA ALL'INCROCIO DEGLI ORDINAMENTI GIURIDICI

This article addresses the challenge of providing legal protection for climate-forced migrants, an emerging category of individuals facing vulnerability. Despite the growing recognition of this phenomenon, there remains a lack of legal classification for these migrants. The authors posit that an investigation of this subject matter necessitates a multi-level approach anchored in the tenets of fundamental rights. The essay begins by analysing the EU and national legal frameworks, with a particular focus on some Member States that have implemented more advanced protection measures. It then turns to an examination of significant national case law, which reveals that in certain instances, judges have granted legal protection to climate migrants. In these cases, the courts have emphasised the environmental cause of forced movement, recognising it as a factor that impacts individual lives and rights. The objective of this examination is to assess whether the argumentative theses proposed by the judges allow for a resolution of the critical issues emerging from the gap in the legal framework, in consideration of the parameters of legitimacy on the protection of fundamental rights. In the final section of the article, the primary arguments developed by case law are evaluated in order to ascertain their replicability in different contexts.