On October 11-12, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Maldives Red Crescent held a regional training workshop in Malé, Maldives, to discuss strengthening disaster laws and humanitarian action in South Asia. The workshop was facilitated by the IFRC’s International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) and Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) Asia-Pacific programmes, together with the IFRC country delegation in Malé.
In her opening remarks at the workshop, the Secretary General of the Maldivian Red Crescent Society, Ms. Rasheeda Ali, outlined that “it is important to have better legal frameworks to be better prepared” and that “structures need to be in place in order to deliver services to the vulnerable”. These points were further emphasized by the Maldives Deputy Minister for Housing and the Environment, Ahmed Zaki, who highlighted that “it is everyone’s responsibility to work together to mitigate and prepare for disasters”. Minister Zaki also stressed the importance of working together to “build resilience” in the region.
Over the course of the two-day workshop, National Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies and government representatives from the Maldives, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Bangladesh came together to discuss the importance of legal preparedness and the three disaster law topics for the upcoming 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. These topics include progress on the implementation of the Guidelines for the Domestic Facilitation and Regulation of International Disaster Relief and Initial Recovery Assistance (IDRL Guidelines), law and disaster risk reduction at the community level, and addressing regulatory barriers to providing emergency and transitional shelter in a rapid and equitable manner after natural disasters. The workshop also focused on humanitarian diplomacy, and provided an overview of other central issues on the agenda at the International Conference, including migration, health inequalities and furthering the auxiliary role of National Societies.
National plans of action were developed by the participants, providing concrete goals for moving forward on these important issues. Some of the plans of action laid the groundwork for future IDRL studies (Afghanistan), dedicated pledges (Sri Lanka) and expanded work on disaster law (Pakistan and Nepal). The workshop also provided a good opportunity to encourage National Societies to work with their governments on new disaster management legislation, which is currently being developed in Bangladesh, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The workshop came at an opportune time, in the lead up to the 2011 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit, where SAARC member states finalized their ‘SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters’.
Whilst providing a unique opportunity for National Societies to work alongside their government counterparts in a regional setting, the workshop also served as a forum to share perspectives and experiences and discuss humanitarian issues of key concern to the South Asian region.