With the participation of 22 Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the forty-first regular session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States took place in San Salvador, El Salvador from the 5th to the 7th June 2011. In the context of the Assembly’s central topic this year, “Citizen security in the Americas”, natural disasters were addressed as one of main threats.
“In the Declaration on Security in the Americas adopted in 2003, natural disasters that regularly affect many of our countries and the man-made disasters that increasingly endanger our region’s environment were, for the first time ever, identified as a direct threat to our peoples' security”, pointed out OAS Secretary General, Mr. José Miguel Insulza, in his inaugural speech.
“The hemisphere is harrowed by natural and man-made disasters which have severe and catastrophic impacts on the citizens of the hemisphere in terms of human and material losses”, added the representative from the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Further to AG/RES. 2492 adopted in 2009 and AG/RES 2610 in 2010, the governments of the region this year adopted Resolution 2647 (XLI-O/11) on Existing mechanisms for disaster prevention and response and humanitarian assistance among member States.
The resolution “extends the mandate of the Joint Working Group on Existing Mechanisms for Disaster Prevention and Response and Humanitarian Assistance among the Member States for 1 (one) additional year so that it may design an Inter-American Plan for the Coordination of Disaster Prevention and Response and Humanitarian Assistance”. It also “resolves to urge the member states promoting the International Disaster Response Laws, Rules and Principles (IDRL) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as a contribution to the development of internal legal structures with a view to generating action protocols, improving and adapting laws, closing gaps, and enlisting the involvement of the public, private, and community sectors”. Moreover it “instructs the General Secretariat to disseminate the Disaster Response Laws, Rules and Principles Program (IDRL) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)”.
The General Assembly concluded with the adoption of the Declaration of San Salvador, underlining the need for OAS Member States to continue their coordination in natural disaster prevention assistance and the strengthening of domestic capabilities.
In the margins of the General Assembly, the IFRC jointly with the El Salvador Red Cross launched an advocacy report entitled “Disasters in the Americas: The case for legal preparedness” to raise awareness of the importance of strengthening legislation and policies surrounding disaster management and to highlight how good disaster risk management legislation can support the reduction of vulnerability in the region. The report presents the challenges and threats that disasters pose across the region, and the progress that is being made by the governments of Dominican Republic, Colombia and Chile, working together with their National Red Cross Societies to develop new positive legislation to reduce risk exposure and enhance disaster preparedness and response.
TV coverage of the press conference may viewed here, while the IFRC advocacy report 'Disasters in the Americas: The case for legal preparedness' is available here.