Canada, Russia, Brazil, China, and most European
countries are states parties but the United States is
not. The United States, however, along with 144 oth-
ers is a state party to the Protocol that also took effect
in 1967 (Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees 1967).
The Protocol expanded the convention beyond post-
World War II Europe.
The Convention relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons (the Stateless Persons Convention) entered
into force in 1960 (Convention relating to the Status of
Stateless Persons 1954). Brazil, China, and most Euro-
pean countries are among the 66 states parties but the
United States is not. Both treaties provide a variety of
protections but neither guarantees entry; the Refugee
Convention prohibits expulsion of those entitled to its
protections.
Environmentally dispossessed persons would be
more akin to refugees or stateless persons than to eco-
nomic migrants. It is therefore not inconceivable that
environmentally displaced persons, in narrow cir-
cumstances, might qualify as refugees under the Refu-
gee Convention (United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees 2009b). Indeed, as several island states
already fear, environmentally dispossessed persons
could soon become stateless. When statehood ceases,
the population is rendered stateless (United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees 2009a). Stateless,
environmentally dispossessed persons will have no
legal right to migrate to any other state, no less an-
other state of their choosing. Only if they are accepted
will they receive the protections of human rights law
and, if applicable, the Stateless Persons Convention.
If the scope of environmental dispossession is
limited to a few island states, the international com-
munity should be able to absorb the relatively modest
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