To coincide with the 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent’s focus on strengthening legal frameworks for disasters, this week IFRC and UNDP have released The Handbook on Law and Disaster Risk Reduction (the Handbook) as an accompanying guide for The Checklist on Law and Disaster Risk Reduction (The Checklist). The Handbook has been developed to provide guidance on how to use the Checklist and conduct related legislative reviews and reform processes for disaster risk reduction, drawing on the lessons of a number of countries who have either recently undergone legislative review processes, or sought to use the Checklist in their own context during the pilot process.
The Handbook provides detailed explanations on how to use the Checklist to assess the strength of domestic laws and regulations for disaster risk reduction. It sets out the rationale for each Checklist question, the issues to consider in order to respond effectively to the question, a suggested process for answering the questions, examples of good practice, and references to standards set by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Together the Handbook and Checklist aim to support countries to identify:
- the strengths and gaps in their current legal frameworks for disaster risk reduction,
- where greater focus may be needed on implementation and enforcement,
- and whether drafting or amending legislation is necessary.
Additionally, it is expected that the process of convening a range of stakeholders in a common dialogue to respond to the Checklist questions, as described in the Handbook, will contribute to the improved implementation of a sound legal framework for DRR.
The IFRC and UNDP warmly encourage National Society Red Cross and Red Crescent Society staff and volunteers, UNDP country team staff, governmental officials, parliamentary staff, and legislative drafters, as well as civil society, researchers and academics, to make use of the Handbook in promoting stronger legal frameworks to help build our collective resilience to disasters.