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Climate Change Disasters and Internal Displacement in Asia and The Pacific 1St Edition Matthew Scott Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
Climate Change Disasters and Internal Displacement in Asia and The Pacific 1St Edition Matthew Scott Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
Climate Change Disasters and Internal Displacement in Asia and The Pacific 1St Edition Matthew Scott Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
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Climate Change, Disasters, and Internal
Displacement in Asia and the Pacific
This book examines how states in eight countries across Asia and the Pacifc
address internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change.
The Asia and the Pacifc region accounts for the majority of global disaster-
related displacement, but the experience of the millions of individuals displaced
differs according to gender, age, ethnicity, (dis)ability, caste, and so forth and
is dependent on the legal, administrative, social, and economic structures and
processes in place to support them. This book adopts a human rights-based
approach, investigating the role of law and policy in preventing displacement,
protecting people who are displaced, and engendering durable solutions across
cases drawn from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. The specifc cases in the
book also refect critically on the term ‘displacement’ and the wider normative
framework within which this phenomenon is conceptualised and addressed.
The book will be of interest to students, researchers, and practitioners working
at the intersection of human rights, human mobility, development, disaster risk
reduction and management, and climate change adaptation.
Matthew Scott leads the People on the Move thematic area at the Raoul
Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Lund University,
Sweden.
Albert Salamanca is a Senior Research Fellow and leads the Climate Change,
Disasters and Development Cluster of Stockholm Environment Institute – Asia,
based in Thailand.
Routledge Studies in Development,
Displacement and Resettlement
This series is concerned with the complex global issue of forced migration, from
its causes and resulting implications to potential responses and solutions. With
the numbers of forcibly displaced people around the world hitting record levels in
recent years, including refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers,
this is an issue that affects not only those communities and countries that people
are feeing from, but also those they are feeing to.
The series will explore the various mechanisms by which people undergo
forced movement, such as war, confict, environmental disaster, development
projects, persecution, ecological degradation, famine, human traffcking and eth-
nic cleansing. It also seeks to promote a fuller understanding of the implications
of forced displacement and how scholars, policy-makers, NGO advocates and
those working in the feld can collectively develop adequate responses.
Edited by
Matthew Scott and Albert Salamanca
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Matthew Scott and Albert
Salamanca; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Matthew Scott and Albert Salamanca to be identifed as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Scott, Matthew, 1978– editor. | Salamanca, Albert M., editor.
Title: Climate change, disasters, and internal displacement in Asia and the
Pacifc: a human rights-based approach/edited by Matthew Scott and
Albert Salamanca.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021.|
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2020025117 (print) | LCCN 2020025118 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367857875 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003015062 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Environmental refugees—Asia. | Environmental
refugees—Pacifc area. | Global environmental change—Social
aspects—Asia. | Global environmental change—Social
aspects—Pacifc area.
Classifcation: LCC HV640 .C55 2021 (print) | LCC HV640 (ebook) |
DDC 363.738/74095—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025117
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025118
ISBN: 978-0-367-85787-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01506-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
Editors vii
List of contributors viii
Foreword xii
Acknowledgements xiv
Acronyms xvi
Table of treaties and international legal and policy documents xviii
Index 229
Editors
Matthew Scott leads the People on the Move thematic area at the Raoul
Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. He focuses
on legal and policy aspects of internal and cross-border displacement in the
context of disasters and climate change and currently leads two projects in
the Asia-Pacifc region focusing on these issues. He also coordinates the insti-
tute’s activities relating to refugees and other displaced persons across Africa,
Asia-Pacifc, Europe, and MENA regions. Matthew sits on the advisory com-
mittee of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the editorial committee
of the Yearbook of International Disaster Law and is a founding member of
both the Nordic Network on Climate Related Displacement and Mobility and
the Asia Pacifc Academic Network on Disaster Displacement. He has nearly
20 years of experience working in the feld of international migration and
forced displacement, including with UNHCR, the Australian Department of
Immigration and Citizenship, and as a specialist immigration and asylum legal
aid lawyer. His academic work has been published by Cambridge University
Press, the International Journal of Refugee Law, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Forced
Migration Review, and specialist edited volumes. He holds a PhD in Public
International Law from Lund University.
Albert Salamanca is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment
Institute’s Asia Centre where he leads its Climate Change, Disasters and
Development Cluster. He has over 15 years of experience working on natural
resources management, sustainable livelihoods, and climate change adaptation
issues in several countries in Southeast Asia. His current research interests are
on the themes of resilience, risk and vulnerabilities, mobility and spatial link-
ages, disaster displacement, indigenous knowledge, and settlement change.
He previously managed SEI’s initiative on Transforming Development and
Disaster Risk, the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform,
and the Partnership in Governance Transition: the Bali Cultural Landscape.
He has a PhD in Geography from Durham University (UK).
Contributors
This volume is one of the major outputs of a two-year research initiative gen-
erously supported by Sida, the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency.
The research formed a part of the wider human rights and environment pro-
gramme implemented by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law.
From the outset, the aim of the research has been to contribute to global and
regional processes addressing displacement in the context of disasters and cli-
mate change. A crucial partner in this endeavour was the Platform on Disaster
Displacement (PDD), where Atle Solberg and Sarah Koeltzow provided valuable
introductions, insights, and inspiration over the duration of the research. Walter
Kälin, the Envoy of the Chair of the PDD, also shared information and expertise
on a number of occasions.
For early exchanges that helped to shape the direction of the research, par-
ticular thanks go to Helena Olsson and Morten Kjaerum (RWI), Thomas
Gammeltoft-Hansen (Copenhagen University), Zeke Simperingham, Helen
Brunt and Hervé Gazeau (IFRC), Sriprapha Petcharamesree (Institute of Human
Rights and Peace, Mahidol University), Erica Bower (UNHCR). Katia Chirizzi
(OHCHR), Andy Raine (UNEP), and Charlotta Bredberg (Sida).
Ongoing exchanges with Cecilia Jimenez-Damary (UN Special Rapporteur
on the human rights of internally displaced persons), Nina Birkeland and Silvia
Llosa (Norwegian Refugee Council), Justin Ginnetti and Bina Desai (Internal
Displacement Monitoring Centre), David James Cantor (Refugee Law Initiative,
University of London), Mo Hamza (Department of Risk Management and
Societal Safety, Lund University), and Loretta Hieber Girardet (UNDRR Asia-
Pacifc) have also shaped the research initiative.
Particular thanks are also due to the Faculty of Law at Ateneo de Manila
University, the Philippines, for hosting our mid-term workshop, and to the
Center for Social Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University, which
hosted our fnal workshop and consultation with international and regional
actors in Bangkok in November 2018.
We would also like to thank Tasneem Siddiqui and her team at the Refugee
and Migratory Movements Research Unit, Bangladesh, for the opportunity
to contribute to the revision of the National Strategy for the Management of
Acknowledgements xv
Disaster- and Climate-Induced Internal Displacement, and for inviting members
of the research team to present insights during the consultation event held in
Dhaka in October 2019. Thanks are also due to the Faculty of Law at Independent
University Bangladesh for their hospitality and support during this visit.
Consultations in the Pacifc would not have been possible without the gener-
ous collaboration of Sabira Coelho (IOM) and Robert Vaughan (OHCHR) in
Fiji, and Willy Missack (Oxfam) and the Vanuatu Climate Action Network in
Vanuatu.
Finally, the research, editorial, and organisational support of numerous col-
leagues within the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and the Stockholm Environment
Institute has proven invaluable, including Mostafa Sen, Victor Bernard, Sri
Aryani, Jason Squire, Farai Chikwanha and Jack Musgrave (RWI), and Karlee
Johnson and Nicole Anschell (SEI).
Acronyms
Although the Guiding Principles are thus clearly as applicable to persons dis-
placed in the context of disasters as they are to those displaced in the context
2 Matthew Scott and Albert Salamanca
of armed confict, the 20 years that have followed since the adoption of the
Guiding Principles have seen an overwhelming focus on the latter, with more
limited engagement with how these principles apply when people have to leave
their homes in situations triggered by foods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
cyclones, and so forth. At the same time, more people are displaced every year by
disasters than they are by armed confict (IDMC 2019). Chapter 2 considers this
state of affairs in more detail.
The starting point for this volume is that the Guiding Principles are effective
in providing a coherent framework for thinking about the kinds of measures that
may be required to prevent and prepare for displacement, protect people during
evacuation and throughout displacement, and facilitate durable solutions in the
context of disasters and climate change, but that, as with confict-related dis-
placement, these principles need to be integrated into national and sub-national
law, policy, and practice in order to have an impact. Additionally, the Guiding
Principles must be complemented by more detailed standards and guidelines,
including from the feld of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM),
climate change adaptation (CCA), and sustainable development.
Consequently, the research entailed consolidation of key standards and guide-
lines relevant to displacement in the context of disasters and climate change (see
Scott 2019a), and also examined national legal and policy frameworks relating
to DRRM and CCA in the eight countries that are the focus of this volume.1
The countries include Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands.
Although examination of other sectoral law and policy would have added fur-
ther depth to the analysis, it was recognised at an early stage in the project that
analysing even this narrow set of legal and policy documents relating to DRRM
and CCA was already a signifcant undertaking, and that analysis of other frame-
works could form the basis for future projects. Indeed, as noted in the conclusion
to this volume, the review of law and policy, together with insights from the case
studies described in more detail below, points to a clear research agenda focusing
on the intersection of displacement, sustainable development and climate change
adaptation, and examining the role of authorities and other actors involved in
urban planning, housing policy, environment, and sustainable development.
Research results show extensive integration of human rights principles in
general, as well as key international standards and guidelines relating to disas-
ter displacement in particular, across legal and policy frameworks in the region,
although with variations between countries. At the same time, the research indi-
cates that displacement is not consistently integrated into the legal and policy
frameworks relating to DRRM and was even less integrated into legal and policy
documents focusing on CCA. Instead, displacement tends to appear in scattered
references to elements such as evacuation, reconstruction, and planned relo-
cation. Thus, with some exceptions, most of the eight countries considered in
this volume do not have a consistent legal and policy framework that addresses
the prevention of and preparedness for displacement, protection during evacua-
tion and throughout displacement, and facilitation of durable solutions. There
Internal displacement in Asia-Pacifc 3
remains considerable scope for integrating displacement into national-level legal
and policy frameworks, including through consistent references to key interna-
tional standards and guidelines.
However, integration of key international standards and guidelines into
domestic legal and policy frameworks does not, in itself, guarantee that states
will take effective measures to address the issues. Implementation of both inter-
national and national level law and policy is a perennial issue, and this research
initiative, therefore, set out to examine the extent to which both international
and national level law and policy actually played a role in specifc instances of
disaster displacement. Identifying examples of good practice at the local level,
our research also points to cases where sub-national plans, procedures, and prac-
tices could be more attuned to displacement risk, and particularly in relation to
the differential exposure and vulnerability of people in situations of potential
vulnerability, including women, persons with disabilities, and people living in
informal settlements, amongst others.
In sum, the research that is presented in this volume addresses two questions.
First, it enquires into the extent to which key international standards and guide-
lines relating to displacement in the context of disasters and climate change are
integrated into domestic legal and policy frameworks. Second, and more in focus
in this volume, it asks about how these frameworks contribute towards the pre-
vention of and preparedness for displacement, protecting people during evacua-
tion and throughout displacement, and facilitating durable solutions in particular
sub-national contexts. The compilation of eight case studies contributes new
insight into the phenomenon of displacement in the context of disasters and
climate change and the role of law and policy in addressing this challenge.
The crucial point about understanding why disasters happen is that it is not
only natural events that cause them. They are also the product of social, politi-
cal and economic environments … where people live and work, and in what
kind of buildings, their level of hazard protection, preparedness, information,
wealth and health have nothing to do with nature as such, but are attributes
of society. So people’s exposure to risk differs according to their class (which
affects their income, how they live and where), whether they are male or
female, what their ethnicity is, what age group they belong to, whether they
are disabled or not, their immigration status, and so forth. (p. 6)
Internal displacement in Asia-Pacifc 7
Understanding disasters as deeply social processes (see also Bankoff 2003;
Cedervall Lauta 2015; Hewitt 1983; Oliver-Smith 1996) also provides a coher-
ent foundation for articulating a human rights-based approach. Whereas the
political ecology approach understands disasters as social processes involving
a variety of historical and contemporary actors, including the state, a human
rights-based approach focuses somewhat more narrowly on the role of the state as
the actor with primary responsibility for addressing disaster risk faced by people
living within its jurisdiction. Disasters are not solely the consequence of natural
hazard events but unfold as a result of acts and omissions by state and non-state
actors. Seen in this light, the familiar principle of international law that recog-
nises states as having duties to take steps to the maximum of available resources
to prevent foreseeable harm (UN CESCR 1999; Scott 2019b) establishes a clear
obligation for states to engage in disaster risk reduction initiatives, including by
taking steps to prevent and prepare for displacement. Further, when people have
already been affected by hazard events, the state, through its myriad institutions,
has a duty to address the impacts of the disaster on the full enjoyment of substan-
tive human rights, including the right to health, the right to shelter, the right
to food, the right to be free from violence, and so forth, both during evacuation
and throughout displacement. There are also compelling, human rights-based
reasons for states to resolve disaster situations in a manner that reduces exposure
and vulnerability to future hazards, thus contributing towards durable solutions to
displacement. These obligations to address the human rights implications of dis-
asters are permeated by the cross-cutting non-discrimination and equality duty,
which requires not only the eradication of overtly discriminatory laws, policies,
and practices, but also tackles deeply rooted structural or systemic discrimination,
which is a root cause of exposure and vulnerability to disaster-related harm.
This political ecology-informed human rights-based lens is further informed
and enhanced by an appreciation of intersectionality, as developed below.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in
a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2 continues:
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.
These principles have informed the overarching principle of Agenda 2030 and
the Sustainable Development Goals which proclaim that:
no one will be left behind. Recognizing that the dignity of the human person
is fundamental, we wish to see the Goals and targets met for all nations and
peoples and for all segments of society. And we will endeavour to reach the
furthest behind frst. (UNGA 2015a, para. 4)
Internal displacement in Asia-Pacifc 9
Based on UDHR and the SDGs alone, there is enough basis to widen our under-
standing of gender and truly refect what a gendered intervention or action should
look like. A study by Djoudi et al. (2016) showed that much of existing gender
analysis in climate change adaptation literature specifcally prioritises heteronor-
mative understandings of gender to the detriment of non-normative genders and
sexualities (NNGS), which include LGBTQI+ minorities and other non-West-
ern gender identities such as vaka sa lewa lewa in Fiji, waria in Indonesia, bakla in
the Philippines, and fa’afafne in Samoa. The dominance of heteronormativity in
development has already been questioned (Jolly 2011). Indeed, other genders do
exist, and they are as much human as heterosexual men and women. They are
imbued with the same bundle of rights. Similarly, persons with disabilities, the
elderly, and Indigenous Peoples also have the right to enjoy the same bundle of
rights as the cisgender, abled, young, and non-Indigenous Peoples majority. But
having a right to enjoy rights is not equivalent to enjoying them, and, as noted
above, widespread discrimination in everyday life contributes to differential
exposure and vulnerability in situations of disaster. In times of disasters, people
marginalised in everyday life often have their concerns sidelined by humanitar-
ian approaches that cater to the needs of the majority and relief and recovery
efforts conducted under pressure by the scale of the disaster and limited resources,
as well as the strong tendency to favour the able-bodied majority and implement
uniform interventions.
Not only that, the varying capacities and capabilities of different groups are
also often not recognised in both normal times and during disasters. Indigenous
Peoples, for instance, often possess unique knowledge systems of their environ-
ment that have been shown to help them manage disaster risk, such as the case of
the Mamanwa in Eastern Visayas who survived the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan
with minimal loss and damage (Cuaton and Su 2020). In Vanuatu, indigenous
structures of governance – the chiefy structure – have a role to play in disas-
ter management (see Chapter 5). Also in the Philippines following Typhoon
Haiyan, NNGS have played a role in relief and recovery efforts (McSherry et al.
2015; Gaillard et al. 2017). In general, there has been little research and policy
action of how NNGS are affected by disasters and the role they can play in recov-
ery (Dominey-Howes et al. 2014; Gormain-Murray et al. 2014).
Both of these key international frameworks also highlight the specifc issue of
displacement. The document adopting the Paris Agreement calls for ‘recommen-
dations for integrated approaches to avert, minimize and address displacement
related to the adverse impacts of climate change’ (UNFCCC 2016, para 49).
The Sendai Framework makes multiple references to different aspects of dis-
placement, from prevention through to durable solutions (IDMC 2017). This
Framework therefore provides an important, disaster-specifc complement to the
Guiding Principles.
The Sendai Framework is also crucial because of the commitment of states and
the actors responsible for the management of disaster risk to achieving its objec-
tives. Unlike the Guiding Principles, which, owing to their application in confict
situations, are not always treated as uncontentious, the Sendai Framework, much
like the Sustainable Development Goals, refects potentially less contentious
ambitions to improve the human condition. A space for discussing and actively
integrating human rights principles opens up in this context in a way that is sim-
ply not available if relying on the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
in isolation. Hence, although in analytical terms the Guiding Principles provide
the cornerstone of the approach to addressing displacement from a human rights-
based perspective, in practical terms, the Sendai Framework is actually at the
forefront.
Declarations at the regional and sub-regional level also refect a commit-
ment to adopting a human rights-based approach to disaster risk management,
in general, and disaster displacement, in particular. For example, the 2018 Asian
Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction called on states to:
Similarly, the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacifc (SPC 2016),
after expressly grounding itself in a human rights-based approach,2 identifes a
number of ways in which states, regional organisations, and others should address
12 Matthew Scott and Albert Salamanca
the specifc issue of disaster displacement. For example, under Goal 1: Strengthened
integrated adaptation and risk reduction to enhance resilience to climate change and dis-
asters, national and sub-national governments and administrations are to:
Notes
1 Reports are available at https://rwi.lu.se/disaster-displacement/.
2 See FRDP 2017–2030 Goal 1, Priority Action i(f): Strengthen capacities at all lev-
els of government, administration and community through inclusive gender analysis,
responsive decision-making systems, and human rights-based approaches to ensure
effective delivery of development initiatives.
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SPC (2016) Framework for resilient development in the Pacifc: an integrated approach to
address climate change and disaster risk management 2017–2030. Available at: https://ww
w.preventionweb.net/english/professional/policies/v.php?id=50272 (Accessed: 20 July
2020).
Steffen, W., Rockström, J., Richardson, K., Lenton, T.M., Folke, C., Liverman, D. and
Schellnhuber, H.J. (2018) ‘Trajectories of the earth system in the anthropocene’,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115 (33),
pp. 8252–8259. doi:10.1073/pnas.1810141115
UN CESCR (1999) General comment no. 12: the right to adequate food. E/C.12/1999/5.
UN Commission on Human Rights (1991) Internally displaced persons. E/CN.4/
RES/1991/25.
UN ESCAP (2019) The disaster riskscape across Asia-Pacifc: Asia-Pacifc disaster report
2019. Bangkok: United Nations.
UN FCCC (2016) Report of the Conference of the parties on its twenty-frst session, held in
Paris from 30 November to 13 December 2015: decisions adopted by the conference of the
parties: Paris Agreement. FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1.
UN OHCHR (2020) Call for inputs: internal displacement in the context of the slow-onset
adverse effects of climate change. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IDP
ersons/Pages/CallforInputs_IDPs_climate_change.aspx (Accessed: 27 May 2020).
Wisner, B., Blaikie, P., Cannon, T. and Davis, I. (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s
vulnerability and disasters. Abingdon: Routledge (second edition).
Internal displacement in Asia-Pacifc 17
International legal and policy documents
Introduction
This chapter introduces the analytical framework for the research initiative as
a whole. Each of the case studies in the volume adopts a human rights-based
approach to the study of law, policy, and practice relating to displacement in the
context of disasters and climate change. The principal reason for adopting this
approach is because human rights are at the heart of the 1998 Guiding Principles
on Internal Displacement (the Guiding Principles), which have been repeatedly
recognised by actors at international, regional, and national levels as an effective
tool for addressing internal displacement (MacGuire 2018). However, although
the Guiding Principles provide an indispensable cornerstone for a human rights-
based approach to addressing internal displacement, important limitations need
to be recognised.
This chapter, therefore, begins with an overview of what the Guiding
Principles offer, and where there are limitations when it comes to addressing
displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. This part of the
chapter shows that insights from the feld of disaster risk reduction and manage-
ment (DRRM), combined with guidance from human rights-based international
standards and guidelines and practical recommendations by UN mandate holders
considering particular instances of disaster-related displacement, provide critical
complements to the Guiding Principles that states can draw upon when seeking
to prevent and prepare for displacement, protect people during evacuation and
throughout displacement, and facilitate durable solutions in the context of disas-
ters and climate change. Additionally, building displacement considerations into
measures designed to promote the realisation of the Sustainable Development
Goals, and to further adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change, can help to
tackle some of the root causes of displacement and overcome structural obstacles
to durable solutions. The Guiding Principles, on their own, do not provide suf-
fcient guidance to states.
This chapter highlights the critical role of national law and policy in address-
ing internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change and
Law and policy addressing displacement 19
argues that, in light of the insights gained from a detailed review of law and policy
across eight countries in Asia and the Pacifc, there is a strong case to be made
for enhancing the systematic integration of displacement-specifc measures into
existing legal and policy frameworks. The chapter demonstrates the prevalence
of human rights-based approaches to addressing different phases of displacement
in legal and policy documents relating to DRRM and, to a lesser extent, climate
change adaptation (CCA) from across Asia and the Pacifc. This analysis suggests
that integrating specifc provisions relating to the prevention of and preparedness
for displacement, protecting people during evacuation and throughout displace-
ment, and facilitating durable solutions to displacement can readily be achieved
within existing legal and policy frameworks, even if such measures do not in
any way guarantee enhanced outcomes on the ground. Particularly in relation
to DRRM, the frameworks often already refect key human rights principles and
tend to be structured in a similar manner to the Guiding Principles by addressing
measures to prevent and prepare for disasters, protect people during disasters, and
help people to rebuild in the aftermath of disasters.
However, although a more systematic integration of displacement considera-
tions into DRRM and CCA law and policy is important and achievable, this
strategy is on its own inadequate. As disaster displacement is the consequence of
a natural hazard event interacting with exposed and vulnerable social conditions
(consider Wisner et al. 2004), addressing the longer-term structural conditions
that underpin the differential exposure and vulnerability of individuals, commu-
nities, and societies requires a more wide-reaching approach. For instance, agen-
cies tasked with managing disaster risk cannot, on their own, tackle the structural
challenges relating to discrimination on grounds such as ethnicity, gender, and
age. They cannot, on their own, address the complex political and social issues
relating to poverty, unequal land ownership, informal urban settlements, and
non-compliance with building regulations. These and other issues constitute
‘root causes’ of disaster displacement, and also stand in the way of the achieve-
ment of durable solutions to displacement. They are also the issues that tend to
receive far less attention in the legal and policy frameworks relating to DRRM
and CCA that were considered as part of the research underpinning this volume.
Integrating displacement considerations into DRRM and CCA law and policy
is therefore a necessary but not suffcient measure to address displacement risk.
It is also wholly inadequate for addressing existing displacement, which, owing
to structural factors such as those identifed above, may be protracted (see Peters
and Lovell 2020). In countries facing protracted disaster-related displacement,
there is good reason to consider adopting legal and policy measures focusing
expressly on displacement. This step, as will be discussed later in the chapter, has
been initiated in Vanuatu and Bangladesh. However, as will be discussed later in
this chapter, only a minority of countries in the region, and indeed in the world,
have adopted bespoke legal and policy documents on internal displacement
(Global Protection Cluster 2020). Another complementary approach entails
integrating displacement considerations into wider sustainable development ini-
tiatives, and the widespread endorsement of the Sustainable Development Goals
20 Matthew Scott
(UNGA 2015a) offers a distinctive opportunity for states and other actors to
invest in measures to tackle those structural factors that underpin exposure and
vulnerability.
Writing some years later, in the year the Guiding Principles were adopted by
the General Assembly, Walter Kälin considered that ‘displacement caused by
natural disasters’ raised ‘few human rights related questions’ (Kälin 1998, p. 558),
suggesting that Deng’s original equivocation on the inclusion of disaster-related
displacement in the Guiding Principles may have been well-founded. However,
particularly in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, this perspective
changed considerably and will be described in more detail below.
Examining the 39 country reports produced by the Representative of the
Secretary-General between 1993 and 2009,1 the prioritisation of confict-related
displacement over disaster-related displacement is evident. First, the choice of
countries strongly refects the concerns of the UN Security Council, with 65 per
cent of countries visited being the subject of resolutions during the period.2
Countries not the subject of UN Security Council resolutions during the period,
including Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, the
Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Uganda, all suffered from protracted
armed confict. Second, confict-related displacement was actively prioritised by
the Representative even when disaster displacement was also prevalent in the
country, as noted in the reports on Colombia, Mozambique, Armenia, Georgia,
Indonesia, Sudan, Mexico, the Philippines, Turkey, Uganda, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although mention is made of popula-
tions displaced by disasters in these countries, neither the phenomenon nor the
human rights considerations that arise in this context are explored in any depth
in these reports.
A notable increase in attention to disaster-related displacement was trig-
gered by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which prompted a report by the
Representative of the Secretary-General Walter Kälin on the human rights
dimensions of disaster-related displacement (Kälin 2005). This report represents
the frst signifcant engagement by a UN mandate holder with the phenomenon
of internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. The
22 Matthew Scott
report uses the framework established by the Guiding Principles to address issues
relating to protection from and during displacement, and in relation to durable
solutions. Signifcantly, refecting the limitations of the Guiding Principles them-
selves, as well as the lack of clear guidance from the only nascent international
disaster law framework,3 the report provides extremely limited guidance on the
steps that states may take to reduce displacement risk, noting only the observa-
tion by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing that homes should be
built in accordance with building codes in order to reduce the risk of them col-
lapsing, highlighting that individuals should have access to legal remedies for loss
of property, and recognising the potential role of early warning systems (Kälin
2005, p. 11–12).
The similarities with confict-related displacement are more apparent in the
recommendations relating to the protection of persons during displacement and
include particular attention to the non-discrimination obligation, the question
of forced evictions, arbitrary displacement and other restrictions on freedom of
movement, family unity, access to education, loss of documentation, and proce-
dural issues relating to active and meaningful participation. In relation to durable
solutions, the Special Representative points to the challenges relating to returns
to homes that continue to be exposed to disaster risk, together with the human
rights challenges presented by the introduction of exclusion zones, along with
issues relating to property rights. The Guiding Principles thus provide a frame-
work for analysis, but in the context of disasters and climate change, there is a
need to draw from other sources in order to be able to make relevant recommen-
dations in the context of disasters and climate change. This approach is refected
in later reports by the UN mandate holders on the human rights of internally
displaced persons, as discussed later in the chapter.
• Governance
• Procedural
• Substantive
• Non-discrimination and equality
The governance element focuses on the existence and quality of the legal and
policy framework, as well as principles of transparency, access to justice, and
accountability. Does the legal and policy framework expressly adopt human
rights standards? Is displacement mainstreamed throughout the relevant legal
and policy framework? What standard operating procedures have been developed
to address the prevention of and preparedness for displacement, protection dur-
ing evacuation and throughout displacement, and facilitation of durable solu-
tions? Which actors are responsible for the implementation of relevant measures,
and what mechanisms are in place for affected individuals to complain about or
appeal against decisions or courses of action? These are some of the questions that
should be asked when adopting a human rights-based approach.
24 Matthew Scott
The procedural element focuses on consultation with and participation of
people who have an interest in the particular matter at hand. Individuals have
a right under international human rights law to participate in public life (UN
CCPR 1996). In the context of displacement, the principle of free, prior, and
informed consent (UN OHCHR 2013) is highly relevant and relates to situations
such as planned relocation and forced evacuation, both of which are discussed
in more detail in this volume. The centrality of participation to DRRM cannot
be overstated and applies to measures relating to each of the three stages in the
analytical framework based on the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
The procedural element of the human rights-based approach also includes the
right to information. This right, which is closely connected to the transparency
obligation, requires states to make information available to the public, both by
avoiding restrictions on access that are not for a legitimate purpose, as well as by
taking positive steps to disseminate information in accessible formats.4 This right
is of critical importance in the context of disasters and climate change, where
people have a right to know the kind of risks that they are exposed to, the meas-
ures in place to protect them, and to have access to early warning when hazard
events take place (see Riccardi 2018).
The substantive element entails the direct and intentional reference to
human rights at all levels, including in law, policy, and practice. Relevant rights
include, but are not limited to, the right to life, the right to work, the right to
adequate food, the right to adequate shelter, the right to health, the right to
water, and the right to social security. Other rights have been established that
focus specifcally on the rights of persons with disabilities, women, Indigenous
Peoples, minority ethnic groups, and children. These rights have been recognised
by the vast majority of states in the international community in treaties such
as the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and others
included in the Table of Treaties and International Legal and Policy Documents
included at the beginning of this volume. What these rights mean in practice has
been developed in detail by treaty monitoring bodies in General Comments and
General Recommendations,5 as well as in expressly human rights-based standards
and guidelines, such as the Sphere Standards (2018) and the IASC Operational
Guidelines on the Protection of Persons in Situations of Natural Disasters (2011).
However, although substantive human rights have informed the develop-
ment of key international standards and guidelines relating to protection during
evacuation and throughout displacement, a human rights-based approach calls
for consideration of substantive rights at each of the three stages of displacement.
Preventing and preparing for displacement means taking steps to address the
root causes of displacement, including economic and social inequality, access to
resources, livelihoods, shelter, and so forth. It also entails taking steps to enhance
‘hard’ infrastructure, including food control systems, homes, and evacuation cen-
tres. Tackling the particular exposure and vulnerability of informal urban set-
tlements, including through risk-sensitive upgrading initiatives, also falls within
Law and policy addressing displacement 25
this context as part of the right to shelter (see UN CESCR 1991). Substantive
rights also inform the question of durable solutions to displacement, as refected
in the set of eight key features articulated and further elaborated in interna-
tional standards and guidelines, in particular the IASC Framework on Durable
Solutions (2010).
Finally, the non-discrimination and equality element is so widely endorsed
by states that it has been recognised by some as having attained the status of
customary international law (Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2003;
International Court of Justice 1971; Lillich 1984). Unsurprisingly, the legal and
policy framework in each of the eight countries of this study refected this prin-
ciple. In practice, what the obligation represents is a duty on the part of states
to refrain from conduct that unjustifably treats some people worse than oth-
ers on account of a particular characteristic such as their ethnicity, disability,
gender, age, religious belief, and so forth. Equally, the non-discrimination and
equality obligation requires states to take positive steps to address existing pat-
terns of discrimination and reasons for inequality. Taking positive steps to ensure
equality of treatment for all, irrespective of gender, age, disability, ethnicity, and
other characteristics entails measures relating to each of the other three elements
of the human rights-based approach. For example, it entails taking account of
the particular situation of persons with disabilities when drafting national and
local law, policy, plans, and procedures. It requires positive measures to ensure
the full, active, and meaningful participation of women at all levels of disaster
management and CCA. It recognises that children, older people, persons with
disabilities, people with non-normative genders and sexualities, and others may
face particular challenges accessing humanitarian relief, and therefore require
additional support in situations of displacement and in reaching a durable solu-
tion to displacement. As noted in the introduction to this volume, a human
rights-based and gender-equal approach also entails the recognition and promo-
tion of individual capabilities, rather than casting people who fall outside of the
majority as ‘vulnerable.’
A human rights-based approach thus focuses on the responsibility of states to
take steps, to the maximum of available resources, to prevent and prepare for dis-
placement, protect people during evacuation and throughout displacement, and
facilitate durable solutions in a manner that promotes the full and equal enjoy-
ment of human rights by all, tailoring interventions according to intersecting
gender, age, ethnicity, or other factors that can contribute to differential expo-
sure and vulnerability. The relevance of this approach is becoming increasingly
apparent to members of the international human rights treaty monitoring bodies,
with a specifc General Recommendation being issued by the UN Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2018), and multiple com-
ments about state’s overarching DRRM and CCA obligations in Concluding
Observations.6
In what follows, this human rights-based approach is further developed,
addressing the three phases of displacement as outlined in the Guiding Principles.
26 Matthew Scott
Prevention of and preparedness for displacement
From the outset, consideration of displacement in the context of disasters and cli-
mate change requires measures not only to prevent displacement but to prepare
for it as well. One consequence of the initial framing of the relationship between
disasters, human rights, and internal displacement is that, beyond calling on
states to avoid ‘arbitrary displacement,’ Section 2 of the Guiding Principles on
‘Principles Relating to Protection from Displacement’ does not in any way refect
the kinds of measures that states can take to address the risk of displacement
in the context of disasters and climate change. The Guiding Principles are also
silent on how states may prepare for displacement in this context. This is not
surprising given the attention of the legal team drafting the document to the
crime of ‘ethnic cleansing’ when developing the content of this duty to prevent
displacement (Deng and Cohen 2018. See also Morel et al. 2012; Adeola 2016).
Principle 5 could be read as enjoining states to engage in DRRM and CCA
work, but this was not within the frame of reference of the relevant actors at
the time, and the international legal landscape has developed considerably since
then. Principle 5 reads:
All authorities and international actors shall respect and ensure respect
for their obligations under international law, including human rights and
humanitarian law, in all circumstances, so as to prevent and avoid condi-
tions that might lead to displacement of persons.
1. Each State shall reduce the risk of disasters by taking appropriate meas-
ures, including through legislation and regulations, to prevent, mitigate, and
prepare for disasters. 2. Disaster risk reduction measures include the conduct
of risk assessments, the collection and dissemination of risk and past loss
information, and the installation and operation of early warning systems.
This provision refects fndings of the European Court of Human Rights in cases
such as Budayeva v Russian Federation and Öneryildiz v Turkey, as well as judg-
ments from the International Court of Justice in the Legality of the Threat or Use
of Nuclear Weapons and the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project cases (Valencia-Ospina
2013). With a DRRM obligation established under international law, Principle
5 of the Guiding Principles invites an interpretation that emphasises the obliga-
tions of states to take steps to reduce the risk of disaster- and climate-related dis-
placement. This insight complements the annotations to the Guiding Principles,
prepared by Walter Kälin (Kälin 2008), which focus exclusively on armed con-
fict and other ‘tensions and disturbances’ (Kälin 2008, p. 25).
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The king received the present very graciously and told the soldier
he could give him in return nothing rarer or better than the
magnificent turnip.
So the wealthy soldier was obliged to hire a cart, and have the
turnip taken to his home. He arrived there full of wrath and
bitterness. The more he thought on the matter the worse he felt, and
at length he formed the evil design of having his brother killed. He
hired two ruffians, who waylaid the former poor soldier as he was
passing through a wood. They seized and bound him and prepared
to hang him on a tree. But before they had accomplished their
purpose they heard an approaching clatter of hoofs and the sound of
singing. That frightened them so much that they thrust their prisoner
head first into a sack, attached a rope to it, threw the end of the rope
over a branch of an oak and hauled him well up into the tree. Then
they took to flight.
The prisoner soon contrived to work a hole in the sack, and stuck
his head out. Then he perceived that the noise which had saved him
was made by a student, a young fellow who was riding through the
wood singing snatches of song as he went along. Just as the student
was passing the tree, the man called out: “Good day. You come in
the nick of time.”
The youth stopped his horse and looked all round, but could not
make out where the voice came from. At last he said, “Who calls?”
“Raise your eyes,” said the man. “I am sitting up here in the Sack
of Knowledge, and in a short time I have learned so much that the
wisdom of the schools is as air compared to mine. Soon I shall have
learned everything, and I shall come down and be the wisest of
mankind. I understand astronomy and the blowing of the winds and
the art of healing the sick, and I know every herb and all the birds
and stones. If you were here in my place you would feel what
splendor flows from the Sack of Knowledge.”
All this greatly astonished and impressed the student, in which he
said: “Blessed be the hour in which I met you! Let me get into the
sack for a little while.”
“Well,” said the other with apparent reluctance, “that you may do if
you will wait for a short time till I am ready. There is one piece of
learning which I have not yet fully mastered.”
So the student waited, but he soon became impatient and
entreated to be allowed to get into the sack at once and satisfy his
great thirst for knowledge. Then the man pretended to take pity on
him and told him to lower the sack to the ground and open the mouth
of it. That done, the farmer got out, and the student started to get in,
feet first, saying, “I want you to make haste and pull me up as fast as
possible.”
“Stop, stop!” cried the man. “That won’t do.”
Then he laid hold of the student by the shoulders and thrust him
into the sack head downward, tied it up, and swung the disciple of
wisdom up on the bough of the tree. When the student was dangling
up aloft in the air, the man said: “How do you feel now, my dear
fellow? Do you find that wisdom comes with experience? Stay there
quietly till you become wiser.”
Thereupon he mounted the student’s horse and rode off; but an
hour later he sent some one to release the prisoner in the sack.
THE ENCHANTED DOVE
A
POOR maidservant was once traveling with her master’s family
in a coach through a great wood. When they were in the very
middle of the wood, a band of robbers sprang out of a thicket
and killed every one of the travelers that they could lay their hands
on. Only the maidservant escaped. She, in her fright, jumped out of
the coach and hid behind a tree.
When the robbers had made off with their booty she came from
her place of concealment and wept as she saw what had happened.
“Alas!” she cried, “here I am left alone in this wild forest. I can never
find my way out, and not a human creature lives in it, so that I shall
certainly die of hunger.”
She wandered about for some time looking for a pathway, but
could not find one. Evening came, and she sat down under a tree
and made up her mind to spend the night there, no matter what
might happen. But soon a little white dove came flying to her with a
small golden key in its beak. It put the key in the girl’s hand, and
said: “Examine closely the bark of the tree-trunk you are leaning
against, and you will find a lock which this key will fit. Turn the key in
that lock, and a door will open and reveal a cupboard in which is
food and drink. Take all you need.”
The girl examined the tree, found the lock, and opened the door,
and inside was a basin of milk, and some white bread to eat with it.
So she made a good meal. When she finished, she said to herself:
“At home the hens are going to roost now. Oh, that I had some
shelter for the night!”
Then the little dove again came flying to her with another golden
key in its beak, and it said, “This will open a door in yonder tree,
within which you will find a nice bed.”
She opened the door and found a soft, clean bed inside, and she
lay down in it and went to sleep. Next morning the dove came a third
time and brought her a key. This opened a door in another large tree
near by, and there she found many beautiful garments embroidered
with gold and silver, and ornamented with precious stones. No
princess could have desired anything finer.
For a long time the maid dwelt there in the forest, and the dove
visited her every day and supplied all her wants. Her life was
peaceful and happy. One day the dove came to her and said, “Will
you do something for my sake?”
“With all my heart,” replied the maiden.
Then the dove said: “I will take you to a little house, which you
must enter. By the hearth you will see an old woman sitting. She will
bid you good day, but on no account speak a word to her, whatever
she may say or do. Walk right past her, and at the far side of the
fireplace you will see a door. Open it and go into the room beyond.
There, on a table, you will find a heap of rings of every description.
Many of them are very beautiful and glitter with precious stones, but
take none of those. Instead, search for a small plain one, which is
somewhere in the room. After you secure it, bring it to me as quickly
as you can.”
So the dove guided the maiden to the little house, and she opened
the door and saw the old woman, who stared and said, “Good day,
my child.”
The maiden did not answer, but went on toward the inner door.
“Whither are you going?” cried the old woman, seizing her by the
skirt. “This is my house, and no one shall pass through that door
without my permission.”
But the girl said never a word. She loosened her skirt from the
woman’s grasp and went into the room beyond the fireplace. On a
table lay a glittering heap of jeweled rings. She searched among
them for the plain one, but could not find it. While she continued her
search, the old woman slipped into the room and took up a bird
cage, with which she started to slyly creep away. Her actions
aroused the suspicions of the maiden, who ran after her and
wrenched the cage out of her hands.
Then the girl saw that the bird inside held the plain ring in its beak.
She took the ring and ran joyfully out of the house, thinking she
would find the dove close at hand waiting for her, but no dove
appeared. Anxious and fearful, she leaned against a tree, watching
for the coming of the bird. As she stood there it seemed to her that
the tree became soft and supple and bent its branches downward.
Then two of the branches twined themselves around her, and
behold, when she tried to free herself, they were not branches at all,
but two strong arms. She looked up, and the tree was gone, and in
its stead was a fine handsome man with his arms clasped about her.
“You have released me from the power of the old woman, who is
an evil witch,” said he. “She changed me into a tree a long time ago,
but every day I became a white dove for a couple of hours. So long
as she possessed the ring I could not regain my human form. I am a
king’s son, and I came hither accompanied by servants and horses,
who were likewise changed into trees. But now you see them around
me in their natural forms, and you must come with us to my father’s
kingdom.”
When they reached their journey’s end the prince and the maiden
married, and they lived happily ever after.
THE THREE WISHES
O
NCE upon a time there lived a poor woodman in a great
forest, and every morning his wife filled a basket with food
and a bottle with drink for his lunch, and, laden with this lunch
and his ax, he went off to be gone till evening cutting timber. One
day he was about to fell a huge oak which he thought would furnish
many a good plank. He had his ax raised for the first blow when he
heard a pitiful entreating, and there stood before him a little fairy,
who beseeched him to spare the tree.
So dazed was he with wonder that for a while he could not open
his mouth to speak a word, but at last he said, “Well, I’ll do as you
ask.”
“That tree is my home,” explained the fairy, “and you will not lose
as much as you think by letting it stand, for it is hollow at the heart.
Besides, to show you that I am not ungrateful, I will grant you and
your wife the first three wishes you and she wish after you get home,
let them be what they may.”
Then the fairy opened a little door at the base of the tree, which he
had not seen before, and disappeared.
“Well,” said the woodman, “if my wife and I can have three wishes,
our fortune is as good as made. It is nearly evening, and I may as
well go home at once. I shall never need to cut any more trees.”
He put his ax over his shoulder, picked up his basket and bottle,
and off he went. When he arrived at his cottage he sat down by the
fireside to rest and told his wife about the fairy.
“Well,” said she, when she had heard him through, “If it is left to
my choice, I know very well what I would wish for. I think nothing is
so good as to be handsome, and rich, and aristocratic.”
“And yet,” said the husband, “even with such wishes realized, one
might be sick and fretful and die young. It would be much wiser to
wish for health, cheerfulness, and a long life.”
“The fairy should have promised a dozen wishes,” said the wife,
“for there are at least that many things I want very much.”
“Yes,” agreed the man, “a dozen wishes would have been better,
but as we have only three we must make those three do all that is
possible. Let us consider the matter carefully until tomorrow before
wishing, that we may decide wisely what three things are most
necessary for us.”
“I’ll think the whole night through,” said she.
“After all,” remarked the man, “it may be the fairy’s promise was
only a trick. Who can tell?”
The evening was chilly, and the wife took the tongs and poked the
fire into brighter blazing. For a time the man sat in silence, and then
he happened to think that he was hungry. “Why isn’t the supper
ready?” he asked.
“You forget that you are home early,” she replied. “It won’t be
supper time for two hours.”
“Ah!” sighed he, “two hours is a long wait after working in the
woods all day. I wish I had some nice sausages this minute.”
No sooner had he said this than—rustle, rustle—what should
come down the chimney but a dish containing a string of as fine
sausages as ever were seen. The dish came down on the hearth
with a slight clatter, and the woodman and his wife stared in
astonishment. “What’s all this?” said she.
He answered not a word, and she glowered and glowered. “Oh,
you silly man!” she cried, “there’s one wish gone already, and only
two are left. What a fool you have been! I wish the sausages were
fast to the tip of your nose.”
A noble string of sausages hung from his nose
Before you could wink, there the goodman sat with his nose the
longer for a noble string of sausages. He tried to pull them off, but
they stuck. Then his wife gave them a pull, but still they stuck. They
refused to come off even when the two pulled together.
“Ouch, ouch!” exclaimed the man, “we must stop this pulling, or we
shall pull my nose off. But I can’t have these things staying on my
nose. What shall we do?”
“They are not so very unsightly,” said she, “and we had better wish
for vast riches. Then we shall be able to live in comfort the rest of our
lives, and if you object to the looks of the sausages we can have a
golden case made to hide them.”
“I couldn’t endure them, case or no case,” declared the man.
Then, lest the goodwife should wish for riches in spite of his protest,
he hastily wished that the sausages might come off.
There they lay in the dish as before, and if the husband and wife
did not ride in a golden coach and dress in silk and satin, why they at
least had as fine a mess of sausages for their supper as the heart of
man could desire.
THE OLD HORSE
T
HERE was once a farmer who had a horse which served him
faithfully till it had grown old and could do its work no longer. So
its master grudged it food, and said: “I have no further use for
you, and yet I still feel kindly toward you. Therefore, if you will show
yourself strong enough to bring home a lion, I will take care of you to
the end of your days. But away with you now and out of my stable.”
Then the farmer drove the poor horse out, and it went sadly away
with drooping head to the forest to get a little shelter from the wind
and weather. There it met a fox, who said, “Why do you hang your
head and look so downcast, and wander about in this solitary
fashion?”
“Alas!” said the horse, “avarice and fidelity cannot dwell together.
My master has forgotten all the service I have rendered him these
many years, and because I can no longer plough he will not give me
any fodder, and he has driven me out of my stable.”
“Did he give you no hope that you might return?” asked the fox.
“Very little,” replied the horse. “He told me that if I could manage to
bring home a lion he would take care of me, but he knows well
enough that such a thing is impossible.”
“Perhaps not,” said the fox. “I will help you. Just you lie down here
and stretch out your legs as if you were dead.”
The horse did as he was bid, and the fox went to a lion whose den
was not far off, and said: “Near by lies a dead horse. Come along
with me, and you can have a capital meal.”
The lion went with the fox, and when they got to the horse, the fox
said: “Hist! hearken to my advice. You can’t eat the creature in
comfort here. I will tie it to you, and you can drag it away to your den,
and enjoy it at your leisure.”
The plan pleased the lion, and he stood quite still, close to the
horse, while the fox knotted the horse’s tail fast to him. He did not
realize that the fox was cunningly tying his legs together and twisting
and knotting the hairs of the tail till it was impossible for him to get
free with all his strength. As soon as the work was done, the fox
patted the horse on the shoulder, and said: “Pull, old Gray! Pull!”
At once the horse jumped up and started for home, dragging the
lion behind it. In his rage the lion roared so that all the birds in the
forest flew away in terror. But the horse let him roar, and never
stopped until it reached its master’s door.
When the farmer saw what the horse had done he was delighted,
and he repented of his former resolution to let the creature shift for
itself. “You shall remain with me in future and live at your ease,” said
he.
So the faithful horse had plenty to eat and comfortable shelter till it
died.
THE DONKEY CABBAGES
T
HERE was once a young huntsman who went to the forest in
search of game. He was light-hearted and merry, and he
whistled a gay tune as he went along. By and by he met an
ugly old woman, who said: “Good morning, huntsman. You are well
fed and happy, while I am hungry and sad. Give me an alms, I pray
you.”
The huntsman pitied the poor old woman, and he put his hand in
his pocket and gave her what he could afford. Then he started to go
on, but the old woman stopped him, and said: “Hark you, dear
huntsman, I will make you a present because of your good heart. Go
on your way, and you will soon come to a tree on which sit nine birds
quarreling over a cloak. Take aim with your gun, and shoot into the
midst of them. They will drop the cloak, and one of the birds will fall
down dead. Take the cloak with you. It is a wishing-cloak. When you
throw it round your shoulders, you have only to wish yourself at a
place to be there at once. Cut open the dead bird, and you will find a
ring inside. Wear it on your finger, and each morning there will be a
gold piece under your pillow.”
The huntsman thanked the old woman, and thought, “She
promises fine things, and I hope it will all turn out as she says.”
When he had gone about a hundred paces, he heard above him,
in the branches of a tree, a great chattering and screaming. He
looked up and saw a group of birds pulling at a cloak with their beaks
and claws. It was evident from the snatching and tugging that each
bird wanted the garment for itself.
“Well,” said the huntsman, “this is extraordinary, and it is just what
the old woman said I would see.”
He put his gun to his shoulder, took aim, and fired. Away went the
birds with a great noise and scattering of feathers—all except one,
which fell down dead, and at the same time the cloak dropped at the
huntsman’s feet. He cut open the bird and found a ring inside and
put it on his finger. Then he took the cloak and went home.
When he awoke the next morning he remembered the old
woman’s promise and looked under his pillow. Sure enough, there
lay a shining gold coin, and on the morning following he found
another, and thus it was every morning. Gradually, he collected quite
a heap of gold, and at last he said to himself: “What is the good of all
this gold to me if I stay at home? I will go and look about in the
world.”
So he took leave of his parents, shouldered his gun, and set out
on his travels. One day a turn in the road brought into view a
magnificent castle. An old woman and a beautiful girl were looking
out from an upper window. The old woman was a witch, and the
maiden was her daughter. “Here comes some one,” said she, “who
has a magic ring on his finger. We must try to get it, my darling. It is
better suited to us than to him. Whoever wears that ring finds a gold
coin every morning under the pillow. You must get it from him or it
will be the worse for you.”
She then withdrew, but the maiden remained looking out of the
window. When the huntsman got nearer he saw her, and said to
himself: “I am weary with traveling. I will stop at this fine castle and
rest.” But he would not have felt such an urgent need of stopping if
he had not seen the maiden.
He was kindly received and hospitably entertained, and he was
soon so in love with the daughter of the witch that she was
constantly in his thoughts, and he cared for nothing but pleasing her.
At length the witch decided on a plan for getting the ring. She
concocted a drink that would make the huntsman insensible, put it in