The month of May was an eventful one for those working on identifying key challenges and solutions for reducing the risk of disasters. Over 2,600 delegates - including politicians, practitioners and experts - met in Geneva to attend the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, and to stress above all the importance of promoting visible and effective actions to improve citizen’s resilience. On this occasion, the IFRC convened a side event to highlight the fundamental role legislation can play in that process.
Entitled 'How can legislation Promote Disaster Risk Reduction at the Community Level?', the event highlighted best practices and key challenges experienced by states that have adopted specific disaster risk reduction (DRR) laws. The importance of integrating national policies for DRR within overarching legal frameworks is frequently mentioned in global guidance materials; however, technical details about what a good law might contain are rarely available.
The event featured the participation of four speakers with extensive experience in such field: Priscilla Duque, from the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council; Gustavo Lara, Director General of the Dominican Republic Red Cross; Mette Lindahl-Olsson, from the Risk and Vulnerability Reduction Department of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency; and Mary Picard, legal consultant for the IFRC and author of a recently published report on DRR-related legislation in Nepal.
A full video recording of the event is available here, and the presentations are available here.
Speakers noted that while a significant number of new laws have been implemented in various parts of the world, important disparities exist between countries with regard to the degree to which these expressly support community involvement and incentives in the field of risk reduction. Concerns raised in the course of the side event were brought to the by Haitian Red Cross Secretary-General, Dr. Guiteau Jean-Pierre who, speaking for the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in the course of the final plenary session of the Global Platform, clearly stressed that "legislation is needed to promote and support both national and local level action."
The side event was convened in the context of research the IFRC is undertaking to explore how domestic legislation can support or impede disaster risk reduction, particularly at the community level. Reports from that research are available here.
In addition to the side event, the IFRC also convened a pre-Platform Expert Advisory Meeting on Legislative Issues in Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva. The day-long event saw the presence of representatives of governments, international organisations, academic institutions, and delegates of both the IFRC and Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies grappling with key messages that can be derived from comparative experiences in disaster risk reduction legislation in various parts of the world. The outcome of these meetings will inform a debate on these issues planned for the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which will take place in Geneva in November 2011.