On June 27, at the 41st Summit of Heads of State and Government of the member states of the Central American Integration System (SICA) in San Jose, the top leaders of eight countries took an important step forward in the development of disaster law in the region. Their "Declaration of San Jose" instructs Central American Coordination Centre for the Prevention of Disasters (CEPREDENAC) together with the Secretary General of SICA and the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIEC) to begin work on "a regional instrument for the facilitation and regulation of the international humanitarian assistance in disasters." The Declaration further calls on authorities in member states to "take steps to comprehensively update their national legislation on the facilitation of the reception, transit and provision of regional and international assistance in situations of disaster."
This step followed on recommendations developed by over 70 representatives from disaster management agencies, Red Cross Societies, UN agencies and other partners at the Regional Meeting on the Movement of International Humanitarian Assistance convened by CEPREDENAC, WFP and IFRC on 6-8 May in Panama City.
In addition to its recommendations take up at the San Jose summit, the meeting produced a set of action plans (six national plans and one regional plan) to strengthen the Regional Mechanism for Humanitarian Assistance among Central American countries and to improve the efficiency of international disaster response. The plans were developed by participants through a review of existing global, regional and national instruments, laws, protocols and norms related to the movement of humanitarian assistance in response to disasters. The plans were endorsed by high-level authorities from the six participating states, who joined the meeting on the third day.