OHCHR, Checklists for Integrating Human Rights in Natural Disaster Management in Pacific

Recent humanitarian crises provoked by natural disasters have raised new challenges to all those involved in disaster management. It has become increasingly evident that any humanitarian intervention needs to integrate human rights dimensions in order to ensure the most appropriate response to victims, before, during and after natural disasters. Humanitarian and disaster management practitioners, therefore, have to be aware of human rights issues in order to reduce the vulnerability of affected populations and special groups, enable transition to normalcy and contribute to increased risk reduction, all within a rights-based framework.

These checklists, specific to the Pacific Region, aim to facilitate the integration of human rights issues in natural disaster management. They can be used by all concerned actors in situations of humanitarian emergencies to ensure that human rights concerns are effectively incorporated in every stage of preparedness, response and recovery.