Social media has highlighted numerous dangerous situations faced by the victims of the tornado that struck Havana, Cuba, on the night of January 27, 2019. People have suffered its devastating consequences, including loss of life and livelihoods, damaged infrastructure, and significant economic costs.
It is concerning that the Cuban government is delaying or preventing relief aid from reaching those most in need when the international community is ready to provide humanitarian assistance. Given this situation, we have decided to answer this question.
Does the state have a duty to protect its citizens before, during, and after a natural disaster?
Under current international law, States are the primary duty bearers and assume obligations in relation to human rights. International treaties and customary international law impose three obligations on them: the duty to respect, the duty to protect, and the duty to fulfill.
The duty to protect It consists of three responsibilities: (1) prevention, (2) response, and (3) reconstruction. These three obligations are equally applicable and forceful when responding to natural disasters. Fulfilling them is the minimum that citizens expect when facing a natural disaster. We have the right to be protected before, during, and after a natural disaster.
The duty to prevent In the context of natural disasters, this translates into the responsibility to alert citizens that a natural disaster is approaching. The responsibility to react obliges one to recognize when one cannot efficiently address a disaster and, as a result, has the obligation to request assistance from other states.
Intervention by other states is essential for a state to recover from a catastrophe. Even when a state's intervention is not requested, it can intervene to provide humanitarian aid without being held responsible for violating the sovereignty of the affected state, as long as its intervention has only that purpose and is not a pretext for introducing military forces into the affected state.
The fact that a state lacks sufficient resources does not justify human rights violations, because there is always the opportunity to use international relations with other states to combat humanitarian crises resulting from natural disasters.
Finally, the duty to rebuild It addresses the state's responsibility to ensure sustainable reconstruction and rehabilitation. Following a disaster, the government has an obligation to seek assistance from the UN and other countries to implement a short- and long-term reconstruction plan, ensuring that the affected areas are once again habitable and safe for their citizens.
In the past, when human rights were still considered a domestic matter for each country, interference from other states and the international community was prevented. Today, this concept has been largely replaced by that of responsibility, according to which states are held accountable for the well-being of their people. That is, the state has the responsibility to protect its population, especially in the face of natural disasters.
The UN Charter obliges UN member states to "take joint and separate measures in cooperation with the organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in article 55," which promotes respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all individuals subject to their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind or reason.