The timing could not be riper for the publication of a new report by the IFRC’s Disaster Law Programme, which examines the legal and policy framework for international disaster response in the Cook Islands. The report was prepared by the Cook Islands Red Cross Society IHL Officer, Ms. Fine Tuitupou-Arnold, with support from the Cook Islands Prime Minister’s Office and Emergency Management department.
The initial findings of the report were discussed at a high-level workshop in August, where key stakeholders came together to discuss how to move forward in improving the national legal framework for disaster response in the Cook Islands. More recently, Ms. Tuitupou-Arnold briefed a group of Pacific National Societies and their government counterparts at a workshop on IDRL in Nadi, Fiji, that was convened by the IFRC and the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat in November 2012. During the workshop, Ms. Tuitupou-Arnold outlined the main challenges for IDRL in the Cook Islands, and explained how the government and National Society were working closely to take this issue forward.
The challenge will now consist in implementing the recommendations of the report, which can be quite a lengthy process, particularly if this means developing new laws or changing existing ones. Ms. Tuitupou-Arnold pointed out that to ensure the recommendations are not forgotten, it will be useful to develop interim measures such as a guideline or a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) on international assistance. The Cook Islands is soon to commence the process of doing this.
Government support for this on-going project was reiterated by Mr. Charles Carlson from Emergency Management Cook Islands. Mr. Carlson emphasized how the government and the National Society have to work together to ensure the recommendations are implemented and, if necessary, to provide technical assistance and advice to the relevant ministries to ensure that the importance of IDRL is understood across the board.
For a full copy of the IDRL in the Cook Islands report, click here.
