Given the embryonic state of scholarship in this area, ASIL’s International and Comparative Disaster Law Interest Group will serve as a central catalyst for debate and reflection. The group will initiate and facilitate a global knowledge exchange among academics, policymakers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines who share a common belief that law can--and must--serve an important role in alleviating human suffering caused by natural hazards, in all of its aspects. In addition, it is the organizers’ hope that the group’s existence will spark new interest among legal specialists in other but related fields, including human rights law, environmental law, administrative law, space law, maritime law, and rule of law, to name just a few.

The group’s activities will include the organization of panels and side events at the ASIL annual meeting, as well as less formal in-person gatherings throughout the rest of the year. It will maintain an on-line presence to share and discuss the latest legal developments and promote professional opportunities pertaining to this new but growing field. This may include periodic “webcasts” on pertinent issues in the field. The group will also be encouraged to contribute views on relevant international processes, such as the current project of the IFRC and UNDP to develop a checklist for lawmakers on disaster risk reduction and the ILC’s “Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters.”