In recent years, consensus has been building in the international community that natural disasters are a first order threat to human security and that more international cooperation is needed to address them. Nevertheless, the development of international norms in this field has traditionally flown quite low under the radar of international lawyers, despite the ongoing work of the International Law Commission (ILC) to develop “Draft articles on the protection of persons in the event of disasters.” This may be about to change.
At the 108th annual meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) in Washington DC, a standing-room only audience of legal academics and practitioners gathered on 10 April to hear a panel of experts respond to the question “Can International Norms Protect Us from Natural Disasters?”
American University Professor Ingrid Nifosi-Sutton answered affirmatively, pointing to the work of the ILC, the modest but growing number of relevant treaties, progress with the Hyogo Framework for Action, and nascent developments toward a concept of a right to a remedy for disaster-affected persons. Professor Kirsten Bookmiller of Millersville University traced the successes over the last twenty years in developing rules and standards for the international deployment of urban search and rescue teams. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Elisabeth Ferris further pointed to the substantial development of attention and normative guidance on human rights in disasters, including in several decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. For his part, however, climate change law expert Michael Gerrard of Columbia University concluded that international law is failing so far to protect the world from the growing dangers of climate change.
Following the panel, ASIL members launched a formal “interest group” devoted to study and dialogue about disaster law. “It is time for international law experts to start paying more attention to this critical issue,” declared Bookmiller, co-chair of the new group, “let’s start to build our network.”
For more information about ASIL, see www.asil.org.