Hasan for new definition of 'refugee' including 'climate migrants'

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has highlighted the adverse effects of global warming that among other factors are negatively contributing towards the rise of climate migrants and refugees.

Bangladesh urged the global community to urgently change the definition of climate migrants and refugees to bring it in line with the UN definition of migrants and refugees.

He mentioned that life thrives only on this planet as far as we know.

At the first panel discussion of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held in Antalya, Türkiye today, the foreign minister spoke on global climate change, climate migrant and climate refugee issues.

Foreign Ministers of Malaysia and Bangladesh, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Vietnam discussed various aspects of the "Building Asia-Pacific Regional Architecture: The Challenge of Unmatching Interests".

Hasan mentioned that like many small and island nations, Bangladesh has become one of the worst sufferers of climate change and global warming.

The entire coastal area of Bangladesh is at the risk of inundation due to the sea level rise and over the last three decades, rise of greenhouse gases, he said.

"And this phenomenon is constantly causing climate migration. The issue is now so real that Bangladesh urgently needs the world community to change the definition of climate migrants and refugees," he said.

The foreign minister mentioned that while the country and many environmental scientists have been focusing on the issue for many years, many world leaders have not believed in it until lately it has become evident to all.

"Yet the rich countries, the major contributors to global warming, are doing very little to address the issue and protect our environment," Hasan said.

There are local issues that make the impact global.

Bangladesh, as one of the worst sufferers of this harsh reality, urges all activists and leaders to accept the importance of changing the definition of climate migrants and refugees and devise an acceptable definition of it to protect the victims and the future generations, said the foreign minister.