Protection of Environmentally Displaced Persons: A Case for European Union Legislation

The European Union's asylum and international protection framework remains largely silent on displacement caused by environmental factors. Despite the growing reality of environmentally induced displacement, no binding legal instrument within EU law recognises or protects those forced to move due to environmental harm. Drawing on an analysis of the Common European Asylum System, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, EU founding treaties, and international environmental and human rights law, this article addresses the resulting protection gap and argues that this omission runs counter to the EU's Treaty principles, its human rights obligations, and its environmental commitments. The article demonstrates that the exclusion of environmentally displaced persons stems not from isolated omissions but from the structural fragmentation of EU legal regimes and the resulting policy inertia, the persistent inability to translate normative commitments into operational protection. The absence of legal recognition leaves affected individuals in a position of extreme vulnerability, with no access to territory, asylum procedures, or protection from refoulement . Moreover, this gap undermines the EU's legal consistency, violates the principle of solidarity among Member States, and diminishes the Union's credibility on the international stage. The article concludes that the EU faces a fundamental normative choice: either to establish a binding rights-based framework for environmentally displaced persons or to perpetuate a structural protection gap that excludes those most severely affected by environmental degradation from the scope of legal protection.