“That’s a big binder!” Eyebrows high in disbelief, participants were presented with substantial packets of international legal instruments at two recent IDRL training and consultation workshops. By the end of a series of interactive sessions, however, they had not only mastered many of the documents, they had also made an important start in setting out a Red Cross/Red Crescent strategy for legislative advocacy in disaster management.
On November 13-14, representatives from 12 Asian National Societies, 3 participating National Societies, IFRC,ICRC, OCHA and the UNLJC gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the first-ever regional training session on IDRL and consultation on legislative advocacy. Two weeks later, on November 25-27, representatives of 13 West African National Societies, IFRC, ICRC, ECOWAS and UNJLC convened for a similar workshop in Abuja, Nigeria.
The theme of both workshops was “putting legal preparedness into practice.” Participants were confronted with a number of scenarios from recent disaster operations presenting thorny legal and policy issues. For many of these, existing international instruments provide substantial guidance, though not always all the answers.
Participants were also consulted about the development of a new manual for National Societies in legislative advocacy in the area of disaster management. In this context, they were able to share their own experiences and strategies, including those learned from promoting IHL.