DISASTERS AND HUMAN RIGHTS – CADHOM

This project contributes to improve the research in the South by associating researchers of the South on the issue of human rights always in situation of conflict and resistances faced with the universalism of these rights depending on international conventions.
This project is a comparative legal research on relations between human rights and environmental disaster. We can notice that social sciences literature as regards disasters is very weak especially on law. The legal aspect of the disasters, mainly present at the level of the prevention and organization of the assistance mechanisms, is not very interested in the impact upon the human rights and on the way of the society face the disaster. This is an environmental justice issue. Indeed, the social inequalities and the situation of dependence of the victims of disasters make them particularly vulnerable. A natural or industrial disaster is always a social disaster. But human rights don’t concern only the victims; they concern also the public and private rescuers whose rights and obligations according to the human rights are to be taken into account.
The role of the human rights in relation with environmental disasters has been too often ignored or under estimated as a resilience issue and tool. Thus, taking into account human rights during the disaster is the heart of the problems because of the emergency. Are all human rights always available during the disaster? Are there legal or practical derogation? It will be also necessary to study the relationship between human rights and environmental disaster before and after the disaster. Many international and regional organisations just begin to become aware of these complex relationships.
During and after the disaster is the big issue of ecological refugees either international refugees or internal displaced people. The research proposes to use the draft convention on the international status of environmentally-displaced persons as a legal case study. This convention was drafted by the responsible of this project (OMIJ- CRSDP- CRIDEAU and the CIDCE). It applies in all types of disasters as well natural as accidental which affect at the same time man and the environment. It would not be pertinent for the human rights to limit them only on the climate change refugees. We want to evaluate the relevance of this draft international instrument, confronted with the current rules of international human rights law relating to migrations as to the comparative national laws in four continents (Europe, Africa, Asia, South America) and six countries (Argentina, Brazil, United Republic of Cameroon, Tunisia, Turkey, Vietnam).