EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Disasters have wide-ranging impacts on human rights, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and inequalities while also creating new ones. At the same time, violations of human rights contribute to vulnerability and exposure, increasing disaster risk.
There is increasing attention being paid to how States protect and promote human rights as part of disaster response and post-disaster recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.
This publication focuses on applying the human rights framework prior to a disaster arising and seeks to deepen an understanding of what it means to take a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to disaster risk reduction and provide guidance to States and other stakeholders on how to do so.
That human rights can – and must – support the prevention and reduction of disaster risk is grounded in States’ international human rights obligations and reflected in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework). One of the guiding principles of the Sendai Framework is to protect people and their assets while promoting and protecting all human rights, including the right to development.
Generally understood, a HRBA is a practical framework for decision-making and action grounded in international human rights standards and principles, with defined roles and responsibilities to support effective implementation and accountability. A HRBA to disaster risk reduction provides States and non-State actors with a framework through which to anchor, review and guide relevant laws, policies and projects. Disasters always give rise to a range of human rights concerns so, for example, floods and droughts can severely disrupt agricultural systems and food supply, damage housing and infrastructure which can leave people without food (right to food), water (right to water) and displaced from their homes without shelter (right to adequate housing) while exposing them to a range of harms, including gender-based violence (GBV), abuse and neglect. Furthermore, they may lose access to their land or be resettled to a new area involuntarily; they may suffer discrimination and unequal access to assistance because of who they are or where they come from; and, they may be restricted in accessing the justice system or from receiving effective remedy. However, States can take proactive measures to protect against such outcomes by strengthening human rights measures across different sectors, in ways that minimise exposure to hazards, reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen capacities for resilience.
This report explores four specific ways in which a human rights-based approach to disaster risk reduction can support efforts by States and others to implement the Sendai Framework, including through:
• Ensuring that people are at the centre of disaster risk reduction. A HRBA can support an understanding of the groups which face exposure to hazardous events, as well as reveal and address structural inequalities which increase vulnerability to disaster risks.
It can also empower the meaningful participation and leadership of people, particularly those in vulnerable or marginalised situations, in the development, implementation and monitoring of disaster risk reduction measures, which can strengthen individual and collective capacity to respond to hazardous events.
• Mobilising maximum available resources for disaster risk reduction. A HRBA provides guidance on the relationship between the use of resources and the enjoyment of human rights. In particular, it draws attention to State human rights obligations related to maximising available resources to ensure the enjoyment of human rights, including through advancing human rights-based economies and participatory processes to facilitate equitable generation and allocation of resources, including in the context of disaster risk reduction investment.
• Regulating business activities to prevent and reduce disaster risk. Business and the private sector in general is increasingly seen as having a key role to play in preventing and reducing disaster risk and a HRBA can assist in guiding the effective regulation of business activities through clarification of both State human rights obligations and business human rights responsibilities in the context of disaster risk reduction.
• Taking longer-term measures to tackle the underlying drivers of disaster risk. As well as guiding specific laws, policies and projects focused on disaster risk reduction, a HRBA offers a common set of standards and targeted guidance for States and others as they seek to address the structural and systemic challenges that underlie and intensify disaster risk. By focusing on the root causes and contributions to disaster risk, a HRBA can highlight timely measures to minimise exposure to hazardous events, reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen capacities for resilience, as well as supporting coherence across topics and synergies between bottom-up and top-down strategies.
A HRBA to disaster risk reduction highlights that States already have considerable experience, guidance and technical assistance available to draw upon to support this process, as existing laws, policies and practices relevant to protecting, respecting and fulfilling civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, will also be, in many cases, relevant to disaster risk reduction.
Finally, recognising that a HRBA to disaster risk reduction can reduce vulnerability and exposure to hazards, and at the same time effective disaster risk reduction promotes human dignity, and can protect and uphold human rights, the publication makes recommendations to strengthen a HRBA to disaster risk reduction which emphasise that States’ existing human right obligations provide the foundation and guiding framework for disaster risk reduction laws, policies and projects.