Disaster displacement, trafficking in persons, and asylum in the European Union: insights from the case law

This chapter sheds light on the crucial, yet so far severely overlooked, nexus between disaster displacement and trafficking in persons and its relevance for EU asylum law. Although research studies have shown that when disaster displacement occurs, vulnerability to trafficking increases by 20-30%, the Union is unprepared to tackle the phenomenon as its Common European Asylum System neither takes into account disaster displacement nor links it to the special protection needs arising from trafficking. The reforms undertaken by the New Pact on Migration and Asylum have similarly disregarded the issue. This chapter first provides evidence of the emerging nexus between disaster displacement and trafficking in the literature and in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. It then proceeds to analyze the different level of acknowledgment of such a connection in the (scant yet relevant) case law, with reference to relevant Italian judgments, which have innovatively recognized the refugee status in the context of trafficking linked to disaster displacement. This analysis shows the appropriate role that asylum law can play in providing adequate protection to claims based on trafficking and disaster displacement and calls for more substantial acknowledgment of such an emerging nexus at the EU level.