100 research outputs found
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Regulating disasters? The role of international law in disaster prevention and management
Purpose – This article explores the role of international law in disaster prevention and management, with a particular focus on the emerging field of international disaster law, and its relationship with international human rights law. It further introduces the four articles of the special column of this journal issue, dedicated to disasters and international law.
Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based upon primary sources of legislation and policy, as well as academic literature on disasters and international law.
Findings – Although the field of international disaster law is at its infancy, we argue that this emergent area does have the potential to gain widespread recognition as a distinct field of law, and that this could be of benefit for the wider disaster management community.
Originality/value – The article introduces key legal features and themes relating to international law and disasters, highlighting their relevance for disaster management. The added value is to widen the discussion on aspects of disasters regulated by international law, thus facilitating the future exchange with other academic subjects and operational fields.
Keywords – disasters; international law; disaster management; treaties; human rights; international disaster law; international human rights law.
Paper type – Research pape
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Community resilience in rural China: the case of Hu Village, Sichuan Province
Building on conceptual frameworks to assess community resilience developed by Emery and Flora (2006) and Kelly et al. (2015), this study analyses the resilience of Hu village (Sichuan, China). The resilience of the village is assessed in the face of multiple and complex slow- and fast onset anthropogenic disturbances, especially the impacts of globalisation and modernisation, which have substantially transformed Chinese society. Hu village is typical for a rural community in transition affected by industrialisation, deagrarianisation, counter-urbanisation and changing stakeholder expectations and opportunities. This has been accompanied by agricultural depopulation, outmigration, increasing non-farm employment, declining agricultural incomes, and associated social and psychological changes – processes that have decreased community resilience. Overall, Hu village emerges as only moderately resilient with tendencies for a further weakening of resilience. While economic, social and cultural domains are (still) moderately resilient, the natural and political domains show weak resilience. Building on critical studies of Chinese rural areas (e.g. Ye and He, 2008; He, 2010; Huang et al., 2010) the study concludes by arguing that Chinese government policies need to be substantially realigned if the resilience of rural communities such as Hu village is to be improved
A disaster preparedness and response project in Afghanistan: participants’ perceptions
World Report on Disability, Intellectual Disabilities, and Disaster Preparedness: Costa Rica as a Case Example
The World Report on Disability relates concerns about the experiences of individuals with intellectual disability in disaster situations.
Disaster planning related to people with intellectual disability needs to consider that (1) they experience disproportionate
risk in disaster situations, (2) they are often excluded from relief processes and are disadvantaged in disaster support situations,
(3) they may need specialized disability-related supports, (4) they often have needs for assistive technology and special rehabilitative
services, (5) family and community networks are important supports in disaster situations, and (6) during recovery,
rebuilding should be inclusive and include disability needs. Thus, people with intellectual disabilities are more likely to need
additional assistance during evacuation, experience more tangible losses during disaster, and require more intensive support in
the recovery phase following disaster. Enabling access to mainstream systems and services, improving human resource capacity,
and providing adequate funding for recovery and disaster mitigation are strategies to increase disaster resilience for individuals
with intellectual disabilities. Costa Rica is one country that has designed emergency disaster management policies and incorporated
disability rights policies that cut across governmental functions and promote interagency cooperation. Having such policy
structures and legislative supports are advantageous for people with intellectual disability, whose support needs often cut across
different functional areas
Understanding the menstrual hygiene management challenges facing displaced girls and women: findings from qualitative assessments in Myanmar and Lebanon
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Sanitation, human rights, and disaster management
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to link debates around the international law on human rights and disaster management with the evolving debate around the human right to sanitation, in order to explore the extent to which states are obliged to account for sanitation in their disaster management efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on analysis of existing laws and policy relating to human rights, sanitation and disaster management. It further draws upon relevant academic literature.
Findings
The paper concludes that, while limitations exist, states have legal obligations to provide sanitation to persons affected by a disaster. It is further argued that a human rights-based approach to sanitation, if respected, can assist in strengthening disaster management efforts, while focusing on the persons who need it the most.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis in this paper focuses on the obligations of states for people on their territory. Due to space limitations, it does not examine the complex issues relating to enforcement mechanisms available to disaster victims.
Originality/value
This is the first scholarly work directly linking the debates around international human rights law and disaster management, with human rights obligations in relation to sanitation. The clarification of obligation in relation to sanitation can assist in advocacy and planning, as well as in ensuring accountability and responsibility for human rights breaches in the disaster context
Implementing cash for work programmes in post-tsunami Aceh: experiences and lessons learned
Increasing the provision of mental health care for vulnerable, disaster-affected people in Bangladesh
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