In the Americas, IFRC Disaster Law assists National Red Cross Societies and governments to implement the Sendai Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, by developing climate-smart disaster risk management laws and policies. We advocate for domestic laws and policies that effectively facilitate international assistance for major disasters and create an enabling environment for disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response. Disaster law projects carried out since 2009 across the five sub-regions of the Americas have helped to drive legal and policy change in twenty countries.
We also work with regional and sub-regional organisations to harmonise legal and policy frameworks across the region and strengthen coordination for regional response. In particular, we work with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Relief (CAPRADE), and the Coordination Centre for the Prevention of Natural Disasters in Central America (CEPREDENAC). We participated in the Ninth Regional Meeting on International Mechanisms for Humanitarian Assistance in Latin America and the Caribbean held in 2019. Notably, the Meeting adopted the Buenos Aires Declaration, which encourages states to review their regulatory and institutional frameworks in light of the IFRC's International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) Guidelines.
Our work also contributes to strengthening the capacity of National Red Cross Societies in humanitarian diplomacy, legislative advocacy, auxiliary role and disaster law. We train staff and volunteers using the IFRC's Legislative Advocacy Toolkit, resulting in the design and implementation of successful policy advocacy strategies.
The IFRC Disaster Law team in the Americas comprises a regional coordinator and an officer based in Panama, who oversee coordination and implementation across the Americas. Sub-regionally, a disaster law senior officer based in Costa Rica supports work in Central America with a focus on Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. In the Caribbean, a legislative advocacy adviser and a disaster law officer are based in Trinidad and Tobago.
