The International Aviation Obligations of States in Dealing with the Spread of Infectious Diseases

The international community has faced different international crises at different times. The occurrence of any international crisis can lead to harmful and often irreparable consequences. The spread of infectious diseases is considered as one of the examples of humanitarian crises. The consequences of this occurrence become more important when another factor exacerbates damages and leads to a threat to public health. The present paper seeks to answer the main question of what international aviation obligations have the states in the event of contagious diseases and in order to prevent and deal with them and to what extent these obligations are effective in preventing the spread of diseases.

The research method is descriptive-analytical and data has been collected by library tools.

In order to organize this research, while observing the authenticity of the texts, honesty and fidelity have been observed.

Findings indicate that airplanes have always been considered as a fundamental and practical tool in human life. However, there are cases in which aircraft, by their very nature, can pose threats to the international community. According to the world health organization, they could endanger public health by relocating humans in the event of infectious diseases such as sars, influenza and more recently, Covid-19. In such a situation, states should try to solve the problem by adopting a global and comprehensive approach.

To determine the international aviation obligations of states in the event of contagious diseases, while stating the current events in this regard, we examined applicable law in this field such as the statute of the world health organization, international health regulations adopted by the world health organization, 1944 international civil aviation convention (chicago convention), standards and recommended practices adopted by icao and existing soft law. It appears that, in the event of contagious diseases, states have some international aviation obligations.Please cite this article as:Mahmoudi SH, Moradinasab S. The International Aviation Obligations of States in Dealing with the Spread of Infectious Diseases. Medical Law Journal. 2022; 16(57): e11.