International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

Dignified Human Corpse in Disaster: A Need of New Treaty

Open access
Humans are the greatest creatures in the world. Our intelligence defined our dignity as human beings and our dignity should be respected. Therefore, human rights is the basic rule of human existence. However, human rights is seldom applied to human corpse. Most countries do not have specific legislation related to the management of human corpse after disaster and additionally, international law also failed to propose a treaty specifically dealing with the management of human corpse after disaster. Therefore, this paper attempts to analyse the related treaties, customary international humanitarian law and soft law pertaining to the management of human corpse. Qualitative methodology with analytical, historical and comparative approaches was used in this study. Results indicate that there are no existing specific treaty that governs the management of human corpse after disaster.
Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=2F5AA9B07AB61934C12563CD002D6B25&action=openDocument
Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at sea https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=2F5AA9B07AB61934C12563CD002D6B25&action=openDocument
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoner of War https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=2F5AA9B07AB61934C12563CD002D6B25&action=openDocument
Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=AE2D398352C5B028C12563CD002D6B5C&action=openDocument
D’Amato, A. (1987) Trashing customary international law. http://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/a87a-trashing.pdf
Disaster Victim Identification Guide (2014). https://www.interpol.int/INTERPOL-expertise/Forensics/DVI-Pages/DVI-guide
Duhaime, L. (1999) Duhaime's Law Dictionary. Victoria, British Columbia.
Harvey, P., Baghri, S., and Reed, B. (2002). Emergency sanitation, assessment and programme design, Leicestershire, Loughborough University.
Henckaerts, J., and Doswald-Beck, L. (2009) Customary international humanitarian law. Cambridge University Press.
Hildebrandt, A. (2013). Mass burials may complicate Philippines Typhoon Haiyan recovery. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mass-burials-may-complicate-philippines-typhoon-haiyan-recovery-1.2430868
http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/392/1/Human_Dignity.pdf

Hutton, D. (2001) Psychosocial aspects of disaster recovery: integrating communities into disaster planning and policy making. https://www.iclr.org/images/Psychosocial_aspects_of_disaster_recovery.pdf
Jha, M. K. (2010) Natural and anthropogenic disasters, vulnerability, preparedness and mitigation. Springer.
Kume, G. D. (2006) Posttraumatic stress: new research. Nova Science Publishers.
Lang, W. (1999) Treaties as a source of international environmental law, Oxford: EOLSS Publication
Law, J., & Martin, E. A. (2013) Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
Lebech, M. (2004) What is human dignity? http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/392/1/Human_Dignity.pdf
Morgan, O., Tidball-Binz, M., and Alphen, D.V (2009) Management of Dead Bodies after Disasters: A Field Manual for First Responders, Wahington D.C, Pan American Health Organisation.
Obonyo, R. (2015) We do need a disaster policy. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/We-do-need-a-disaster-management-policy/-/440808/2715688/-/onstOe/-/index.html
Periago, M. R. (2004) Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations: Disaster Manuals and Guidelines Series, No.5, Wahington D.C, Pan American Health Organisation.
Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Convention and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=D9E6B6264D7723C3C12563CD002D6CE4&action=openDocument
Protocol (II) Additional to the Geneva Conventions and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=AA0C5BCBAB5C4A85C12563CD002D6D09&action=openDocument
Rahman, N., and Amin, J. (2014) Role of soft law in international law making process. http://www.sub/edu/bd/.
Statute of the International Court of Justice http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/sicj/icj_statute_e.pdf
Tidball-Binz, M. (2007) Managing the dead in catastrophes: guiding principles and practical recommendations for first responders, Inter. Review of the Red Cross, 89(866), 421-442.
In-Text Citation: (Hoe, Umar, Kamarudin, & Lian, 2018)
To Cite this Article: Hoe, L. I., Umar, R., Kamarudin, M. K. A., & Lian, C. J. (2018). Dignified Human Corpse in Disaster: A Need of New Treaty. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(5), 537–547.