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55 German Y.B. Int'l L. 87 (2012)
The Future of International Disaster Response Law

handle is hein.journals/gyil55 and id is 88 raw text is: The Future of International Disaster Response Law DAVID FISHER* ABSTRACT: Recent years have been crowded with massive disasters that drew global efforts to save lives and mitigate tragedy. However, international response operations have never been so complex. Relief efforts are regularly hampered by unnecessary restrictions, delays, costs and barriers on the one hand, and gaps in quality, coordination, accountability and respect for domestic authorities and beneficiaries, on the other. This would seem to be a situation tailor- made for some clear and balanced rules, and the international community has indeed been very busy adopting a large number of international instruments of various kinds. However, those rules remain mainly unknown to disaster managers and legal experts alike. This article examines the rationale for regulatory frameworks in this area and, based on current trends, speculates about potential future developments at the national and international levels, including the possibility of a future flagship treaty. It argues that, for all its many faults and gaps, there is already a field of 'international disaster response law' and it will likely rise from its current obscurity to play a more important part in disaster response in the future. KEYWORDS: Natural disasters, international disaster response law, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian principles, disaster cooperation, humanitarian access, responsibility to protect I. Introduction In the small but growing academic literature on international disaster response law (IDRL), a common theme is starting to emerge: amazement. Most commentators are amazed to discover that while the social and economic impacts of disasters continue to rise and the international systems for responding to them become ever more elab- orate, the applicable international legal framework remains so weak and obscure.1 * Global Coordinator of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' (IFRC) Disaster Law Programme. The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not neces- sarily reflect those of the IFRC or its member National Societies. I See, e.g., Marie-Jose Domestici-Met, Humanitarian Action - A Scope for the Responsibility to Protect? Part I: Humanitarian Assistance Looking for a Legal Regime Allowing Its Delivery to Those in Need under Any Circumstances, Goettingen Journal of International Law 1 (2009), 397, 397; Bosko

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