JUSTICE, GENDER AND CLIMATE MIGRATION IN THE EU PERSPECTIVE. EXPLORING DIFFERENT ROLES OF THE EU COMMISSION, EU PARLIAMENT, AND THE COUNCIL

Abstract

Climate migration is an emerging policymaking area not yet regulated by European Law. Given the absence of a legally-binding treaty governing this phenomenon, the scope of this study focuses on policy documents issued by the most relevant European Institutions: the EU Commission, EU Parliament, and the Council. Thanks to this document-based analysis, the present contribution will show the different roles the selected EU institutions played and whether they have a common denominator. The main findings show that despite the different ontologies and approaches, the selected EU institutions seem to converge into a significant securitization of climate migration, with scant attention to gender and environmental justice within the most relevant EU documents concerning migration and asylum. Indeed, such perspectives are more likely to be mentioned in EU policy documents dedicated to gender but are not integrated into the migration policies where they would matter. A detailed analysis of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum reveals its substantially gender and environmental justice-blind approach despite the gender mainstreaming ontology that has been invoked in numerous policy documents largely focused on gender.