An Analysis of the Position of Disaster Risk Reduction in International Law

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Prof., Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Neyshabur, Neyshabur, Iran.

10.22099/jls.2024.45228.4856

Abstract

Governments and international community always suffer from man-made or nature-based disaters. Consequently, international law has paid attentions to these issues in recent decades. Although this attention is mainly focused on the post-disaster phases, prevention and preparedness against disasters are not left out. This article aims to determine the legal nature of disaster risk reduction and the level of commitment of governments in its implementation.This paper is placed under doctrinal methods and its dominant theoretical perspective is positivism. After examining the capacities of international law, it came to the conclusion that disaster risk reduction has not yet become a binding treaty or customary rule, but a limited level of obligatory can be claimed due to the connection with some human rights (right to life) and some principles of international environmental law (due diligence). In addition, the support of international law should not be limited to proving the binding nature of a rule. This system can guide governments through soft law especially by providing examples of effective domestic laws in reducing disaster risk.

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Journal of Legal Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 17 June 2024

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