Ванредне ситуације у међународном праву – нова област међународног јавног права
International Law on Emergency Situations – New Part of the International Public Law

Summary/Abstract: In the several previous decades there is a trend of the growth of legal acts regulating various issues of natural disasters and catastrophes. In the last two decades it is obvious that international organisations have been engaged in regulating rights and duties, but also in taking the active role when it comes to emergency situation. Bearing in mind the overwhelming growth of international law instruments, an issue emerged – are we witnessing the birth of the new part of the International Public Law? If we go into the process of analysis we can easily find out that existing international law norms can, on the general level, cover emergency situation. However, besides existing international law principles and general norms on responsibility and damage compensation there is new substantive law corpus, governing rights and duties of states. The process of the regulation is occurring twofold. One portion of that corpus is generated in the soft law sources, predominantly throughout the work of the international organisations and conferences. There is quite developed corpus of resolutions, frameworks and action plans adopted by UN, UNESCO, IAEA, ILO, IFRC. The other portion is generated throughout the negotiation process, finalized in new international treaties. At the present time there is large number of convention covering wide range of emergency issues. As the new part of the International Public Law – the Law on the Emergency Situations has its very important connection within the International Human Rights Law. In fact, main point and raison d`etre of this new law is prevention and protection of people. The main idea is not to annul human rights when it comes to emergency situation. From the pure legal point of view there is dilemma whether natural disasters and manmade catastrophes should be regulated within the same corpus of norms and in the same manner or law should approach to them differently? The answer is clear – rights, duties and responsibilities of states are the same no matter of the origin of the disaster and it should be summarized as the help to human beings. As for the conclusion the authors confirm that new part of the International Public Law governing rights, duties and responsibility in the emergency situation has not yet been finalized, but that there is solid ground for it.

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