Sources of IDL: focus on customary international law

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dc.contributor.authorCubie, Dugen
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-25T13:43:45Z
dc.date.available2025-09-25T13:43:45Z
dc.date.issued2025-08-11en
dc.description.abstractIt can be argued that modern international disaster law owes its genesis to the call by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 2000 to ‘design practical legal tools to strengthen disaster response around the world’. In proposing the creation of an ‘international disaster response law’, the IFRC suggested that the operational application of the non-binding Sphere Standards could be an example of the development of customary international law relating to humanitarian assistance and response. The IFRC noted that the Sphere Handbook provides ‘explicit standards’ for humanitarian professionals, which in turn raised a series of interesting legal questions. For example, how much field use or State acceptance would be needed to support a claim that the Sphere Standards were part of customary international law? Perhaps more fundamentally, how would such a claim of rights be enforced? There is clearly extensive international practice in the provision of humanitarian assistance following disasters, and increasing practice in promoting disaster risk reduction, prevention and preparation (as evidenced by the non-binding Hyogo and Sendai Frameworks), as well as in the fields of disaster recovery and rehabilitation. However, is there any corresponding legal basis (i.e. opinio juris) behind the actions of States and other humanitarian actors in the field of disaster prevention, response and recovery? Alternatively, do States act simply on the basis of diplomatic and friendly relations, or even self-interest? As part of our continuing series of short articles on the sources of international disaster law,7 this contribution will examine the current work of the International Law Commission (ILC) on the identification of customary international law, and consider how this might be applied to the field of international disaster law. Analogies will be made to the extensive work undertaken on customary international humanitarian law by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as related branches of law such as international refugee and forced displacement law. The contribution will conclude with some reflections on the potential crystallisation of customary international law in the context of disasters.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationCubie, D. (2025) 'Sources of IDL: focus on customary international law', Yearbook of International Disaster Law, 6(1), pp. 515-525. https://doi.org/10.1163/26662531_00601_032en
dc.identifier.doi10.1163/26662531_00601_032en
dc.identifier.eissn2666-2531en
dc.identifier.endpage525en
dc.identifier.issued1en
dc.identifier.journaltitleYearbook of International Disaster Lawen
dc.identifier.startpage515en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/17896
dc.identifier.volume6en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherBrillen
dc.relation.urihttps://brill.com/view/journals/yido/6/1/article-p515_31.xmlen
dc.rights© 2025, Koninklijke Brill BV, Leiden.en
dc.subjectIDLen
dc.subjectInternational disaster lawen
dc.subjectCustomary international lawen
dc.subjectHumanitarian assistanceen
dc.subjectDisaster risk reductionen
dc.subject~Law - Journal Articles~en
dc.titleSources of IDL: focus on customary international lawen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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