Disaster Displacement and International Protection in the EU Challenges, Misconceptions, and the Way Forward

Foreword

Ringraziamenti / Acknowledgments.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Introduction.
2. Conceptual framework.
    2.1. Vulnerability: A taxonomy.
    2.2. Vulnerability as a conceptual lens.
3. Structure of the book.

CHAPTER 1.
MISCONCEPTIONS OF DISASTER DISPLACEMENT.

1. Introduction: Features of disaster displacement.
2. Legal frameworks concerning disasters and disaster displacement.
    2.1. Blurry boundaries: Different definitions of “disasters” at the international level.
    2.2. Disasters’ legal and operational frameworks at the EU level.
    2.3. Disaster displacement in international frameworks.
    2.4. Disaster displacement in the EU legal order.
     2.4.1. Disaster displacement in EU security policy.
     2.4.2. Disaster displacement in EU migration policy.
     2.4.3. Disaster displacement in EU climate policy.
3. Framing disasters through vulnerability lenses.
4. Rethinking the impact of disaster displacement through vulnerability lenses.
5. Disaster displacement due to man-made hazards.
6. Concluding remarks.

CHAPTER 2.
CHALLENGES IN APPLYING AND INTERPRETING INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF DISASTER DISPLACEMENT.

1. Introduction: EU asylum law.
    1.1. The Qualification Directive: Drifting international refugee law and EU asylum law apart.
    1.2. The refugee definition: Interpretations and relevant judicial developments by the CJEU.
    1.3. The lights and shadows of the principle of non-refoulement.
2. A detailed definition of “persecution”.
3. “It’s a no go”: Disaster displacement’s exclusion from the refugee status.
    3.1. Implications.
4. The Internal Protection Alternative.
    4.1. The IPA under the Qualification Regulation.
    4.2. The IPA and the risk of indirect refoulement.
5. “Not severe enough”: Disasters and the Internal Protection Alternative.
    5.1. Implications.
6. Subsidiary protection.
7. Serious harm.
    7.1. Article 15a.
    7.2. Article 15b.
     7.2.1. The case of M’Bodj.
     7.2.2. The case of MP.
     7.2.3. Setting a precedent: The restrictive turn of the ECtHR.
    7.3. Article 15c.
8. “Not in the list”: Disaster displacement as falling beyond subsidiary protection.
    8.1. Implications.
9. Concluding remarks.

CHAPTER 3.
STATE-LED BARRIERS TO ASYLUM AND DISASTER DISPLACEMENT.

1. Introduction: Disaster displacement and access to protection.
2. Deterrence paradigm in EU migration and asylum policies.
3. Departure prevention.
    3.1. National development cooperation strategies.
    3.2. Implications.
4. Non-admission policies.
    4.1. The “safe country notions” in the Asylum Procedures Regulation.
     4.1.1. Effective protection.
     4.1.2. Expanded scope and restricted safeguards.
     4.1.3. Fast track procedures.
     4.1.4. Common EU list of safe countries of origin.
    4.2. Implications.
5. Externalization arrangements.
    5.1. Implications.
6. Concluding remarks.

CHAPTER 4.
PRACTICES OF PROTECTION AGAINST DISASTER DISPLACEMENT ACROSS THE WORLD. INSIGHTS FROM EUROPE AND ITALY.

1. Introduction: A regional analysis of protection responses to disaster displacement.
2. Non-refoulement obligations in the context of disaster displacement.
    2.1. Teitiota v New Zealand.
    2.2. The ICJ’s 2025 Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change.
3. Africa and Middle East.
4. The Americas.
5. Asia.
6. The Pacific.
7. Europe.
    7.1. Policies and ad hoc practices.
    7.2. Law.
    7.3. Case law: Regional Courts.
    7.4. Case law: Domestic Courts.
8. Italy.
    8.1. Italian migration law.
    8.2. Italian case law.
     8.2.1. Refugee status and disaster displacement.
     8.2.2. Subsidiary protection and disaster displacement.
     8.2.3. National protection statuses and disaster displacement.
    8.3. Italian policies.
9. Concluding remarks.

CONCLUSION.
THE WAY FORWARD. COUNTERACTING APPROACHES TO CHALLENGES TO PROTECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF DISASTER DISPLACEMENT IN THE EU.

1. Introduction: Persisting challenges to protection in the context of disaster displacement in the EU.
2. Endorsing a contemporary understanding of disasters.
3. Embracing an evolutive approach towards international protection norms.
4. Abandoning the logic of deterrence.

Index.
Bibliography.

Biography

Dr. Chiara Scissa is a Research Fellow in EU Law at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, Department of Social and Political Sciences. Previously, she worked as a Researcher in the Energy, Climate, and Resources Program at Istituto Affari Internazionali and as a Research Collaborator at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, where she obtained her PhD in Law cum laude with a specialization in disaster displacement in international refugee law and EU asylum law. Dr. Scissa is an expert in the intersections between climate change, disasters, and displacement from a legal and judicial perspective, with a particular focus on EU migration and asylum law, and has consulted for UN agencies, international organizations, NGOs, and consultancy agencies on the nexus between climate change and migration.

Dr. Chiara Scissa’s new book, Disaster Displacement and International Protection in the EU: Challenges, Misconceptions, and the Way Forward (Routledge, 2026), provides the conceptual understanding and analysis that have been lacking until now. It “accepts” that the law is fuzzy, that there are overlapping frameworks, and then sets out clear insights into how to analyze international law and EU law, and even provides a vulnerability lens. The role of scholarship is to promote thinking as to what is clear and what requires greater clarity, and Dr. Scissa’s book does that lucidly and precisely.

Geoff Gilbert, Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, University of Essex, the UK

Dr. Chiara Scissa's insightful monograph sheds light on the critical intersection of disaster displacement and international protection in the EU. By addressing misconceptions and policy gaps, this timely work is essential for scholars, legal practitioners, and policymakers alike, advancing a necessary dialogue on effective protection mechanisms for vulnerable populations.

Madalina Moraru, Associate Professor of EU Law, University of Bologna, Italy

This book innovatively examines the complex issue of the need to protect people displaced by disasters. In addition to the limitations of the EU common asylum system, it remarkably reflects on future prospects for protection in a political context characterized by barriers to the effective exercise of the right to asylum.

Martina Flamini, Judge, Supreme Court of Cassation, Italy

This book is both timely and necessary. Timely, because it fills a critical gap in the literature by providing an in-depth review of the legal and policy landscape in the European Union, highlighting structural features and interpretive approaches which, presently at least, mean most claims brought in Europe grounded in climate change and disasters impacts elsewhere fail. Necessary, because it charts the way forward: towards legal interpretations better reflecting the social and political nature of all “natural” disasters, and towards policy settings which better facilitate access to protection procedures. 

Bruce Burson, Judge, Immigration and Protection Tribunal, New Zealand