Abstract
What can international disaster law offer regarding an international duty to cooperate?
Co-operation is seen as an indispensable element for the effective operation of international law. The existence of cooperation is often presumed unthinkingly and never more so than when disaster strikes. In the face of calamities that overwhelm the capacity of individual states there are usually immediate calls for politics to be put aside, alongside rather generalized and intuitive appeals to (a relatively un-contoured) altruism on the part of international actors. In general, defining what co-operation is, or imagining what it could be, has often appeared to proceed on a stop-go basis. It has relied on instinct and pragmatism, developing in a somewhat episodic fashion. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has produced renewed calls to realise genuine international cooperation. In so doing it has prompted a hard revisiting of what is meant by ‘international cooperation’. This discourse has generated fresh challenges to notions of passivity and philanthropy that have hitherto dominated the discourse of ‘international aid and assistance’. This paper will consider what international disaster law can offer regarding understandings of international co-operation. In particular it will consider the 2016 International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in Disasters and the specific attention they give to a cooperative duty as it relates variously to states, the UN and ‘other assisting actors’. The draft Articles will not of themselves realise international alliance. However, they create space for discussing the granularity of an international cooperative duty and its potential to move beyond the uncertainties of relying on beneficence.
Co-operation is seen as an indispensable element for the effective operation of international law. The existence of cooperation is often presumed unthinkingly and never more so than when disaster strikes. In the face of calamities that overwhelm the capacity of individual states there are usually immediate calls for politics to be put aside, alongside rather generalized and intuitive appeals to (a relatively un-contoured) altruism on the part of international actors. In general, defining what co-operation is, or imagining what it could be, has often appeared to proceed on a stop-go basis. It has relied on instinct and pragmatism, developing in a somewhat episodic fashion. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has produced renewed calls to realise genuine international cooperation. In so doing it has prompted a hard revisiting of what is meant by ‘international cooperation’. This discourse has generated fresh challenges to notions of passivity and philanthropy that have hitherto dominated the discourse of ‘international aid and assistance’. This paper will consider what international disaster law can offer regarding understandings of international co-operation. In particular it will consider the 2016 International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in Disasters and the specific attention they give to a cooperative duty as it relates variously to states, the UN and ‘other assisting actors’. The draft Articles will not of themselves realise international alliance. However, they create space for discussing the granularity of an international cooperative duty and its potential to move beyond the uncertainties of relying on beneficence.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 4 Apr 2023 |
| Event | Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference 2023 - Ulster University, Derry Duration: 4 Apr 2023 → 6 Apr 2023 |
Conference
| Conference | Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference 2023 |
|---|---|
| City | Derry |
| Period | 4/04/23 → 6/04/23 |
Keywords
- disasters
- cooperation
- international law commission
- Covax
