On June 16-19, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) organized the second session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva.
The importance of strengthening legal preparedness for disasters, including through use of the IDRL Guidelines, was highlighted in a number of the Platform’s events, including in a pre-session event for Central Asia, statements from the floor from several participants in the plenary sessions, and other side events.
In addition, on June 18, OCHA and the IFRC co-hosted a well-attended special event on “Legal preparedness for international disaster cooperation in the context of climate change,” with high-level speakers from Cambodia, Norway and Sierra Leone presenting their experiences making use of the IDRL Guidelines in reviews of their national legal frameworks.
In his summary of the overall proceedings, Global Platform Chair and UN Under-Secretary General John Holmes noted that “there is a pressing need to build institutions, including legal frameworks, to sustain disaster risk reduction action as an ongoing concern, and several countries stressed the need for technical assistance, to help grow their capacities.”