A new Regional Compendium of Regulatory Instruments providing for disaster assistance was finalised in late December 2010 by the Working Group of the Regional Meeting on Enhancing International Humanitarian Partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Working Group, consisting of government representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico, along with representatives of OCHA and IFRC, was constituted through the Buenos Aires Declaration (adopted in June 2010). The Regional Compendium is based on the IDRL Guidelines and is designed to facilitate the work of governments in the region to assemble, within their domestic legislation, the relevant information pursuant to the regulation and facilitation of international assistance during disasters.
IFRC‟s IDRL Coordinator for the Americas, Isabelle Granger, applauded the development. “The Regional Compendium will permit the efficient sharing of information regarding existing legal proceedings following disasters, and also improve mutual cooperation between countries and other international actors who provide assistance following disasters,” she said. It will also enable governments to identify strengths in their domestic legal framework pursuant to disaster response, and areas for improvement, in preparation for future disaster response operations.
Governments in the region will be invited to present on the progress made in the elaboration of their country profiles at the next regional meeting on „Enhancing International Humanitarian Partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean‟, which will take place in Quito, Ecuador in April 2011.