The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 has made progress by drawing attention to the diverging ways in which women and children experience disasters and has highlighted their increased vulnerability in certain disaster situations. However, recent disasters and the current COVID-19 pandemic have revealed a failure to deliver its inclusive responsive strategy and goals. The pandemic has amplified gender disparities and has brought about a disproportionate impact on women’s and children’s health and wellbeing.
Against this backdrop, the goal of this workshop is to explore the impacts on women’s and children’s health and well-being following disasters and the pandemic in Japan and Australia and advance recommendations on disaster policy for the promotion of a human-right-based response and recovery framework. There is an overall scarcity of research on, and evaluation of, a human rights-based approach to women’s and children’s health and wellbeing following a disaster. In response to that, this workshop intends to reflect on women’s and children’s experiences of disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, the 2009 and the 2019/2020 bushfires in Australia, among others, as well as the current COVID-19 pandemic in both countries from an interdisciplinary perspective of the social sciences, critical public health and critical disaster studies. We use the understanding of a human rights-based approach adopted by WHO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which aims not only to realize the right to the highest attainable standard of health (or “right to health”) and other health-related rights, but also to achieve them through a participatory, inclusive, transparent and responsive process.
Informed by ample experience in scientific inquiry and professional action, invited senior researchers and practitioners will offer exclusive insights into the effects of disaster exposure on women and children, fostering an informed discussion of more inclusive models of disaster management and response. Additional early and mid-career researchers from both Japan and Australia will contribute to workshop presentations and discussions. This interdisciplinary exchange will serve participants to engage in meaningful conversations and consider the common areas available for collaborative work in the future.