KIRIBATI: UN Human Rights Committee rules on climate refugee case

In January, the UN Human Rights Committee issued its first ruling on a complaint by an individual seeking asylum from the effects of climate change. The decision stated that countries may not deport people who face climate change-induced conditions that violate the right to life. The complaint was filed by an asylum seeker whose application had been denied by the government of New Zealand and who had subsequently been deported with his family to his home country of Kiribati.