<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Litigation

Sabin

Sabin Litigation

judgment

Anonymous (X) v. Ministry of the Interior and the Florence Territorial Commission for International Protection - judgment

Filing Year For Action

An individual from Bangladesh had, with his family, experienced frequent flooding in his village, causing repeated destruction of their homes and land, forcing the family to live in extremely precarious conditions and homeless for prolonged periods of time. It was argued this flooding contributed significantly to the applicant’s situation of extreme poverty. Furthermore, his family have never received any kind of assistance, support or form of compensation, neither local nor national, to deal with the recurrent flooding and related damage. 

The applicant was trafficked to Romania, and then was later trafficked to Italy. He then found underpaid work in Palermo, Italy, where he was told by a doctor he was suffering from exhaustion as a result of his working conditions. The case was referred to a regional anti-trafficking body (SATIS), which determined he had been trafficked from the outset. It was acknowledge that climate vulnerability had led to his being trafficked. He filed his claim for protection in 2017.

Initially, the Florence Territorial Commission (Commissione Territoriale per la Protezione Internazionale di Firenze) found the applicant’s account plausible, it found there was insufficient evidence to identify the applicant as a victim of trafficking or to consider that there was a risk of return related to trafficking. Specifically, it decided that the applicant did not have a well-founded fear of persecution within 1951 Refugee Convention definition, nor did it find he was exposed to an actual risk of serious harm as defined in Italian law (Legislative Decree 251/2007). Furthermore, they established that there were no elements of risk of serious harm as there is currently no armed conflict in Bangladesh and therefore no possibility of a different type of international protection (subsidiary protection). They also found the conditions for humanitarian protection (outlined in Legislative Decree 25/2008) were not met. As such, in October 2019, they denied the application for protection and the applicant appealed in December 2019. 

In the appeal to the Ordinary Tribunal of Florence (Tribunale Ordinario di Firenze), in December 2019, the legal team emphasized that the flooding the Brahmapuhtra river was continuous and that there was no state support. Additional evidenced established the risks of flooding in both the applicant’s home region and in Bangladesh, the country of origin, as a whole. His legal team argued that, should the applicant return, he would face a risk of being trafficked and a situation of extreme poverty. They emphasized the lack of minimum welfare and community solidarity, would exacerbate this. This endangered personal dignity of the applicant and his family, in line with the prerequisite for the recognition of humanitarian protection in Italian law, which deems serious natural disasters or other serious local factors hindering repatriation in dignity and safety as a factor. His large debts owed to traffickers caused fear for threats to his life, given the extreme violence (death, kidnapping, torture) and constant threats to his family members when he had failed to repay.

The Court in Florence (Tribunale Ordinario di Firenze) found that fear of persecution included a violation of the person’s human rights, as protected by international and regional law. Human trafficking involves violations of human rights, specifically those outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights, buttressed by case law at the European Court of Human Rights. Therefore, they decided, human trafficking is a form of persecution relevant to refugee status. The Court also found that the individual could be part of a ‘social group’ - as outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and Italian law - on account of his common identity with other trafficking victims. 

Furthermore, the Court found that the individual, and his family, had already suffered persecution, serious harm, and threats of serious harm. Retaliation by traffickers was considered as part of the future threats of harm, as well as discrimination and ostracism once the applicant had returned to his village. Similarly, there are no comprehensive rehabilitation and reintegration programs for those who have been trafficked in rural villages areas of Bangladesh, including the applicant’s own. As such, they found that the individual was at specific risk of retrafficking, exacerbated by poverty, debt, and social isolation. Therefore, the Court held, the applicant had a well founded fear of suffering multiple forms of persecution if he were returned. The Court also noted that climate change would amplify the risk of being retrafficked. 

As such, the applicant was granted refugee status.

Anonymous (X) v. Ministry of the Interior and the Florence Territorial Commission for International Protection

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

People whose sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression differs from the majority or societal norms

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, that enables individuals, communities, governments, businesses and others to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events.

Using laws and the legal system more broadly to protect vulnerable entities

Aligning the skills of the workforce with the requirements of the just transition.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment. We include jobs which require a high amount of green skills or which spend much of their time on green activities, as well as jobs transforming polluting industries.

People who have left their homes, whether through force, voluntarily, or a mixture of both

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Anonymous (X) v. Ministry of the Interior and the Florence Territorial Commission for International Protection - judgment

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance