From June 5-7, 2023, 34 National Societies from across the Americas will meet in Nassau Bahamas for the XXII Red Cross Inter-American Conference where they will agree on commitments to guide their work for the next four years.
The theme of the Conference is Leadership and Sustainability: Local Solutions to Global Challenges.
The key objectives of the Inter-American Conference are to promote cooperation, and networking among the regional Red Cross Societies around common humanitarian concerns and challenges and to position and show the added value of the Red Cross network as an auxiliary to governments.
Workshops during the conference:
5a Workshop: Overcoming difficulties in accessing international aid
Objective: To allow for peer-to-peer exchanges between National Societies on the challenges and successes in accessing international humanitarian assistance during crises and emergencies and advocating for better legal positioning in disaster-related laws and policies.
June 6, 4:00 - 5:30 PM, click here to join the workshop.
5b Workshop: Towards national disaster response policy frameworks, inspired by the IDRL Guidelines
Objective: To sensitize National Societies on key instruments and approaches to IDRL, namely the CDEMA Model Legislation, the Central American MecReg, and the Honduran IDRL Law.
June 7, 2:00 - 3:30 PM, click here to join the workshop.
8a Workshop: Strategies for leveraging the auxiliary role and strengthening relationships with government
Objective: Sharing of key findings of reviews and legal mappings of the auxiliary role of regional National Societies, discussion of strategies to strengthen the auxiliary role status of Red Cross National Societies
June 7, 4:00 - 5:30 PM, click here to join the workshop.
Plenary Session 5: Disaster Law, Influencing Humanitarian Action
Objective: To present the main developments in disaster response policy frameworks at the regional and national levels that could change the rules of the game for humanitarian access in the Americas and the Caribbean.
Speakers: Vice Minister of COPECO-Honduras; Special Advisor CEPREDENAC-Central America, Representative of CDEMA-Anglo Caribbean and Vice President of the Honduran Red Cross.
June 7, 2023, 11h00-11h50 (Bahamas time)
Plenary Session 8: Leveraging our auxiliary status with Governments
Objective: To highlight and promote the importance of the auxiliary role of National Societies by exploring the experiences of both National Societies and the government.
Speakers: II Vice President and Minister of Health of Costa Rica; President of the Costa Rican Red Cross, Government Representative of Argentina, President of the Argentine Red Cross, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross, Director General of the Jamaica Red Cross.
8 de junio de 2023, 9h30-10h20 (Hora de Bahamas/Bahamas time)
IFRC Disaster Law with Honduras Red Cross and Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society will facilitate two plenary sessions:
1. Disaster law: influencing humanitarian action
2. Leveraging our auxiliary status with governments.
These sessions will showcase key developments in disaster response policy frameworks that could significantly change humanitarian access in the Americas and the Caribbean and highlight the importance of the auxiliary role of National Societies by exploring the experiences of National Societies and governments.
National Societies are invited to a preparatory workshop on April 25 (Caribbean) and April 26 (Latin America) to gather their inputs to define their collective commitment in the Nassau Accord to increasing their leadership in disaster law and strengthening their auxiliary role.
For more information about the preparatory workshop please contact:
Rebeca Munoz (for Latin America): rebeca.munoz@ifrc.org
Jessie Jordan (for the Caribbean): jessie.jordan@ifrc.org
For more information about the Disaster Law and Auxiliary Role sessions at the Inter-American Conference 2023, please contact:
Sophie Teyssier, Americas Regional Coordinator for Disaster Law and Legislative Advocacy: sophie.teyssier@ifrc.org
Stacy Cummings, Legislative Advocacy Advisor: stacy.cummings@ifrc.org