#1 DISASTER RELIEF REVIEW

Legal preparedness for disasters and emergencies can be defined as both an outcome and a process. As an outcome, it refers to:

• Reviewing and strengthening legal instruments to ensure they provide an enabling environment for disaster risk management.

• Having in place well-designed, well-understood and well-implemented laws, regulations, procedures and plans relating to disasters and emergencies.

• Implementing existing legal arrangements through training actors on their roles and responsibilities.

• Carrying out dissemination and awareness raising activities for the general public.

The limited number of global multilateral disaster law treaties is complemented by a plethora of informal agreements, or “soft” disaster law. These instruments:

• Can often be as important as their formal counterparts (i.e. binding treaties) in terms of normative effects.

   

• Often have the same level of authority among the states concerned than formal ‘hard’ international treaties.

• Have the advantage of allowing the participation of non-state actors, such as non-governmental organizations.

• Creates formal legal duties for states that sign and ratify them.

The concept of “disaster” as defined by Article 3 of the ILC draft articles on the Protection of persons in the event of disasters:

• Mentions a calamitous event resulting in widespread loss of life, great human suffering and distress, but not to a series of events having such consequences. 

• Refers to major disasters involving widespread loss of life, but not to relatively minor or localized events, or for that matter economic downturns. 

• Makes no express distinction between disasters caused by natural as opposed to human-made hazards. 

• Includes large-scale material or environmental damage seriously disrupting the functioning of a society. 

By becoming parties to human rights treaties, states assume obligations and duties under international law that also apply to disaster settings. These include:

• Obligations to report, implying a duty for states to denounce other states’ violations of human rights on their territories when disaster victims are affected. 

• Obligations to respect, meaning that states must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights.

• Obligations to protect, requiring states to defend individuals and groups against human rights abuses, including those committed by private parties or due to natural or technological hazards.

• Obligations to fulfil, meaning that states must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights, for instance, through the provision of assistance to disaster-struck communities.

The “cluster system” is an inter-agency body comprised of seven UN humanitarian system actors, the IFRC, and Save the Children. This system:

• Was created after 2005 by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) to improve the effectiveness of post-disaster response coordination when international actors are involved.

• Operates as both a global and in-country effort but only engages on a national level upon the request of the disaster-impacted country.

• It is only focused on the response phase and does not foresee any role for the lead organizations in other disaster management stages such as prevention, risk reduction, mitigation, preparedness.

• Comprises 11 clusters, reflecting all aspects of a comprehensive disaster response, ranging from camp coordination and management to water, sanitation and hygiene.