In early September, the Government of Brazil and UN OCHA convened the “Second Regional Meeting on Enhancing International Humanitarian Partnerships” in Florianopolis, Brazil. Following on the model of the first such meeting hosted by the Government of Mexico in 2008, the meeting gathered representatives from 19 governments in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as humanitarian organizations to discuss how to improve collaboration in disaster preparedness and response in the region.
Among the key topics addressed by the meeting were the regulatory measures needed for successful disaster cooperation. This was reflected in the final “Declaration of Florianopolis” adopted by the government representatives on September 4th.
The Declaration called for the development of strengthened tools to facilitate the exchange of requests and offers for disaster assistance in the region. It also sought the development of a “Regional Document” compiling regional, subregional and national rules and procedures related to cross-border disaster assistance.
As a “preparatory measure” for the development of the “Regional Document”, the Declaration called on states to “take stock of the existing legal and institutional mechanisms, as appropriate, for facilitating and regulating international relief, making use, inter alia, of regional manuals and the Guidelines for the domestic facilitation and regulation of international disaster relief and initial recovery assistance.”