ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a detailed and rigorous review of legal, judicial, and policy practices providing protection due to disaster displacement enacted in the world’s regions, with a specific focus on Europe and Italy. It begins with an analysis of landmark insights concerning protection in the context of disaster displacement established at the international level by the UN Human Rights Committee in the case Teitiota v New Zealand and by the International Court of Justice in its 2025 Advisory Opinion. It then provides a thorough overview of key measures undertaken by States to provide protection to people displaced in the context of disasters in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific and, specifically, Europe. The study reveals that a great variety of emergency, ad hoc, and temporary tools have been mostly used to react to the occurrence of devastating disasters and related displacement, demonstrating the need to offer more stable and durable solutions. Finally, the chapter presents Italy as a unique case study, able to reflect the complexities and controversialities of law and politics when governing protection based on disaster displacement. Italy’s innovative legislation and case law, which have led to groundbreaking protection decisions in the field of disaster displacement, indeed contrast with the political priority of several executives to reduce protection safeguards.
