Research On The Legal Relief Mechanism Of International Disaster

The struggle between the human beings and natural disasters is a timeless topic, it can be said that the history of human development is also the history of human beings struggling with the natural disasters. Where there are disasters, there is a rescue operation. Until the end of the nineteenth century, however, the international relief caused a widespread concern. In the twentieth Century, man-made disasters also brought great pain coupled with frequency of major natural disasters, and the international community generally reached a consensus of the international disaster relief. Therefore, many international organizations and treaties came into being at this moment.At present, the legal framework of international disaster response law mainly includes global conventions, regional treaties, bilateral agreements and all kinds of "soft law"(such as the resolutions of international organizations, statements, principles, guidelines and so on). There are no too many legal documents of international relief on a globe scale, and mainly related to the international human rights law, international humanitarian law, customs law, telecommunications law, environmental and industrial accident law, civil defense and military law etc.. In regional treaties, it can be said that only the European region formed a relatively complete legal system, while the development of bilateral agreement is more imperfect. In contrast, the "soft law" without legally binding has actually played an important role. Overall, there is no a unified legal department or legal system in the international disaster relief field.The lack of legal mechanisms of international disaster relief results in the existing limitations within international disaster response law, such as dispersion, limited adjustment range, application and legal effect limitations, and also a series of legal problems in the international rescue operations at the same time. The third part of this article mainly analyzes some widely concerned topics by the method of case analysis, such as customs clearance delays of relief goods and equipment, rescue personnel entry issues, cooperation among international rescue parts, cooperation between international and domestic rescue parts and specific operational problems in disaster relief. The limitations of international disaster response law and legal issues have affected the launching of the relief operations. How to solve these problems to enhance the relief efficiency and achieving the initial purpose of rescue becomes the focus of world concern.Many of these problems are caused largely by the imperfect relief legal system; therefore, a perfect international disaster relief mechanism becomes the key to solve the above problems. At the international level, international organizations and institutions should be committed to promoting the study of international disaster response law, and constantly improve legal mechanisms. At the same time, government of each state can learn from international treaties to perfect their relevant relief laws. Of course, the rescue subject should also abide by the relevant laws and regulations, and strengthen mutual cooperation. The particularly noteworthy point is that the rescue subject should try to participate in the rescue as much as possible through international humanitarian organizations and governments, and it is the only way to enjoy exemption from customs duties and other privileges. And it also can facilitate unified command and dispatch among each rescue body, which will help to enhance the rescue efficiency. Up to now, the study of the international disaster response law mechanism has reached some achievements. We look forward to a perfect legal mechanism of international disaster relief presenting in the world in the near future.