The Rights of Mongolia's Internal Migrants under International Law: Climatic, Domestic and Commercial Responsibilities

• Author: Benoît Mayer
• Pages: 197-219

Mongolia’s Internal Migrants

197

VII JEAIL 1 (2014)

Benoît Mayer

∗

Over the last decade, 350,000 people have moved from Mongolia’s countryside to the

suburbs of its capital, Ulaanbaatar, where they live in abject poverty despite the rapid

economic development of the country. This article proposes three complementary

international legal analyses of this internal migration. First, because this migration

is partly and indirectly induced by the adverse impacts of climate change, States

have a common but differentiated responsibility to assist the Mongolian government

to address climate migration. Second, Mongolia should bear its own responsibilities

to take steps to realize the social and economic rights of its population without

discrimination. Third, Mongolia’s commercial partners should be warned against

 

international law on State responsibility and to States’ extraterritorial human rights

obligations. While each narrative reveals an important dimension of a complex

phenomenon, this article argues that all policy levers must urgently be pulled to

guarantee the rights of Mongolia’s internal migrants.

Keywords

Mongolia, Migration, Narratives, Climate Change, Development,

Geopolitics, Environment, Human Rights.

The Rights of Mongolia’s

Internal Migrants under

International Law: Climatic,

Domestic and Commercial

Responsibilities

∗ Ph.D. candidate at National University of Singapore. LL.M. (McGill), M.A. (Sciences Po). ORCID: http://orcid.

org/0000-0002-0669-7457. This article follows a month-long country visit conducted in 2013, undertaken with the

financial support of the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law at McGill University and

the logistical support of the local office of the International Organization for Migration in Ulaanbaatar. Opinions and

mistakes remain the author’s sole responsibility. The author may be contacted at: bmayer@nus.edu.sg / Eu Tong Sen

Building, 469G Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259776.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2014.7.1.10

STUDENT CONTRIBUTION

2014-05-23 오후 2:38:12

198 Benoît Mayer

I. Introduction

As a large country with a small population, Mongolia

1

is facing many social issues.

       

done to guarantee a fair and equitable redistribution; inequalities are rapidly

rising. Each year, tens of thousands of people move from Mongolia’s countryside

to Ulaanbaatar, its capital. There, they settle in the ‘ger’ districts,

2

insalubrious

suburbs already inhabited by 300,000 migrants from the last decade. Isolated from

the economic growth of the city center, the dwellers of the ger districts often have

no running water, sewage or electricity, and strive to access public services such

       

communal heating system available in the central districts) is the main cause of

extremely high levels of air pollution in the valley of Ulaanbaatar during the long

winters.

3

To understand this migration, one needs to first explore the historical

        

international law.

This research will analyse three different political narratives on Mongolia’s

internal migration from the viewpoint of international law. This paper is composed

     

      

     

Mongolia’

  ’s international trade and development partners.

These narratives are not only explanatory, but also normative. By attributing

migration to a ‘cause,’ each of them ascribes responsibility to specific actors and

  

for all States to recognize their responsibility vis-à-vis Mongolian ‘climate migrants’

in accordance with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in

international environmental law. The political narrative underscores Mongolia’s

own responsibilities under international human rights law, in particular with regard

to social and economic rights and the prohibition of discriminations. The geopolitical

1 By ‘Mongolia,’ the author refers to the sovereign State of Mongolia (Outer Mongolia).

2 The ‘ger’ (yurt) is the traditional tent in which the Mongolian nomads live. Many destitute internal migrants settle

around Ulaanbaatar in their ‘ger,’ hence the name ‘ger districts.’

3 Other internal migrants become artisanal miners, often living in drastic conditions. Interview of Coralie Grielle,

volunteer in international cooperation, in Ulaanbaatar (Apr. 1, 2013).

10-student-Benoit Mayer(197-220).indd 198 2014-05-23 오후 2:38:12