Study On The Treatment Of Cruise Ship Epidemic From The Perspective Of International Law

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pneumonia,several cruise related epidemics occurred at sea,which caused widespread concern in the international community.Due to the particularity of the cruise ship structure and environment,the cruise ship is easy to become a “Petri dish” of the virus,resulting in a series of difficulties in dealing with the cruise epidemic.Take the “ Diamond Princess” cruise ship epidemic incident in early 2020 as an example: first,the responsible subjects of the cruise ship involve the flag state,coastal state and the nationality state of passengers and crew members.The diversity of the responsible subjects makes it difficult to implement the specific responsibilities and obligations of the cruise ship epidemic disposal to a certain extent;Secondly,the gaps in the current international rules and mechanisms in the handling of cruise epidemic situation made the handling of cruise epidemic situation disorganized,resulting in the confusion of rescue operations,thus delaying the best disposal opportunity and causing a human rights crisis;Finally,the failure to give full play to the highly relevant international organizations such as the World Health Organization,the International Maritime Organization and the Cruise Lines International Association is also a major lack in the whole cruise epidemic.To solve the above problems in the handling of cruise epidemic,we should first clarify and strengthen the responsibilities and obligations of flag States,coastal States and countries of nationality of passengers and crew members in cruise epidemic related events,secondly establish and implement an emergency mechanism for the handling of cruise epidemic,and finally enhance the role of relevant international organizations with the World Health Organization as the core.