IDRL Overview

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IDRL Overview
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Meaning of IDRL

• I International (Concerning foreign and
  international actors)
• D Disaster (natural man-made, but not armed
  conflict)
• R Response (preparedness, relief,
  rehabilitation, reconstruction)
• L Laws, rules and principles (National and
  international)

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IDRL Problems

• Demand Side

Supply Side

• Initiatition
• Visas
• Customs
• Medical qualifications
• Taxes
• Legal Personality

• Coordination
• Accountability
• Complementarity
• Quality of Assistance

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Historical Developments

• 1758 Vattel, The Law of Nations
• 1863 International Committee for Relief
  of the Wounded
• 1869 2nd Intl Conference affirms RC
  role in disasters
• 1919 League of Red Cross Societies
• 1927 International Relief Union

De Vattel
Dunant
Ciraolo
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International Relief Union
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1984 Draft Convention

• Applied to states, IOs, NGOs
• Addressed issues of
• Visas
• Customs
• Transport
• Quality
• Liability

• ECOSOC did not adopt it.

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Global Institutions
Bilateral Agreements
No Comphensive Legal Regime
Sectoral Law
Regional Law and Institutions
Soft Law
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Bilateral Agreements

• Request and Response
• Entry of Personnel and Goods
• Costs
• Liability Issues

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Global Institutions
NGOS
UNDRO/OCHA UNICEF WFP UNDP ISDR WMO UNESCO . . .
Federation ICRC 183 National Societies 20 million
active volunteers
Transnational Corporations
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Sectoral IDRL
Basel Convention on Haz. Wastes (1989)
Kyoto Convention (1973)
Tampere Convention (1998)
Convention on Maritime Traffic (1965)
Nuclear Emergency Convention (1986)
Conventions on UN Privileges and Immunities (1946
1947)

Chicago Convention, Annex 9 (2004)
Framework Convention on Civil Defense (2000)
Int. Health Regs (2005)
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Soft Law

• Resolutions
• Measures to Expedite International Relief (1977)
• GA Resolutions 46/182 (1991) and 57/150(2002)
• Hyogo Framework (2005)

Models UNITAR, Model Rules for Disaster Relief
Operations (1982) Max Planck Institute,
International Guidelines for Humanitarian
Assstance (1990) WCO/OCHA Model Customs Agreement
(1996)
Codes and Standards Red Cross/NGO Code of Conduct
(1994) Sphere Charter and Minimum Standards
(2000) Principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship
(2005)
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Regional Law and Institutions
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Customary IDRL?

• Cf. North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (1969)
• a very widespread and representative
  participation in a convention might show that a
  conventional rule had become a general rule of
  international law
• Tendency in practice to informally waive legal
  barriers, at least at the outset of the disaster

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Gaps at the International Level

• Non-binding nature of the most comprehensive
  instruments
• Binding instruments very specific and/or have few
  parties
• Wide variation of standards for different types
  of provider (Govt, IGO, RC/RC, NGO)
• Particularly big gap in quality/accountability

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Gaps at the National Level

• Lack of awareness, application and codification
  of international standards
• Lack of detail in existing law
• Reliance on ad hoc rule-making
• Application of every-day rules to disaster
  situations