Protecting persons affected by natural disasters: IASC operational guidelines on human rights and natural disasters

These Operational Guidelines are addressed to intergovernmental and non-governmental humanitarian actors when they are called upon to become active just before or in the aftermath of a natural disaster. The Operational Guidelines do not list the rights of persons as enshrined in international law. Rather, they focus on what humanitarian actors should do in order to implement a rights-based approach to humanitarian action in the context of natural disasters. They call on humanitarian actors to look beyond their core mandate and to have a holistic vision of the needs of the people
they have been asked to serve. While these Guidelines have been drafted with the consequences of natural disasters in mind, most of them are also relevant in preparation for or after other kinds of disasters have struck.