The study of natural disaster and human rights has received greater attention in international relations. Since human rights considered as an important subject of international relations, analysing it from different perspectives expand the body of knowledge of human rights and international relations itself. Moreover, the discussion of environmental effects on human rights has the potential to stimulate growth, development, and change in international relations system. For that reason, this study explores the connection between natural disaster and human rights in the context of Philippines. Philippines has been selected as the case study because of its location at disaster-prone areas. The fact that Philippines face an average of 20 typhoons every year makes it a decent case to study. The aims of this study are to examine the Philippines’s approaches in managing natural disaster, identify the various human issues occurred during natural disaster, scrutinize the Philippines’s ways of handling human rights during natural disaster, and sketch the connection between human rights and natural disaster. The methods of this study are discourse analysis based on Fairclough and case study approach based on Yin. Hannah Arendt’s ‘right to have rights’ serves as the theory that underpins the study. The key essences for this concept are the right to belong in a community, recognition of the ‘right to have rights’, and the creation of supranational law. The analysis from the findings revealed that there is a connection between human rights and natural disasters in Philippines. Philippines would need to improve its mechanisms in protecting human rights during natural disasters as human rights issues will definitely ensue during such events. Furthermore, this study also concludes that the issue of natural disaster is closely associated with human security.
