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Introductory Remarks by Giulio Bartolini

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2022

Giulio Bartolini*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of International Law, Roma Tre University, Editor-in-Chief Yearbook of International Disaster Law.

Extract

Although the 2020–2021 international agendas were obviously focused on the COVID-19 situation, our societies are under continuous relevant threat as a result of disasters brought about by natural and technological hazards and worsened by the effects of climate change. Such phenomena, capable of significantly disrupting affected communities, are giving rise to multiple legal and institutional challenges and consequently the protection of persons affected by climate change and disasters features on the agenda of several international bodies. A number of examples could be mentioned in this regard, such as the forthcoming debate in 2021 at the United Nations General Assembly on the possibility of adopting a treaty based on the 2016 International Law Commission (ILC) Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters; the current activities of the ILC focused on sea-level rise in international law; debates in human rights monitoring bodies on the relationship between disasters and legal protection, which have intensified in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and led to a continuous flow of recommendations, reports, and other advocacy activities highlighting the challenges raised by this disaster; as complemented by increasing recourse to strategic litigation on climate change in international and domestic fora.

Type
Protecting People in the Context of Climate Change and Disasters
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.

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Footnotes

This panel was convened at 11:15 a.m., Thursday, March 25, 2021 by its moderator, Giulio Bartolini of Roma Tre University, who introduced the speakers: Patrícia Galvão Teles of the UN International Law Commission; Kirsten Hagon of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Ambassador Duncan Muhumuza-Laki of the UN Human Rights Committee; and Mohamed Nasheed, former President of the Maldives.