High-level disaster law event / 17-19 April / Mombasa, Kenya

16 April 2012

For the first time in eastern Africa, high level officials from across the region are meeting to address the current regulatory challenges related to the delivery of food aid and humanitarian assistance.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) are co-hosting a three-day event, focusing on the issues recently experienced during drought relief operations in the Horn of Africa. The event aims to support key regional stakeholders, notably lawmakers and disaster management officials and their humanitarian partners, to address common humanitarian regulatory challenges, from over-regulation (where red tape can lead to delayed and ineffective responses) to under-regulation.

The group will discuss how to make the best use of the already established ‘IDRL guidelines’ (The Guidelines for the Domestic Facilitation and Regulation of International Disaster Relief and Initial Recovery Assistance). The state parties of the Geneva Convention and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement unanimously adopted the guidelines at the 30th International Conference of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. While not legally binding on states, the guidelines draw on treaties and other international standards to help governments strengthen their own national laws and policies related to international disaster assistance. They are also useful in the development of bilateral and regional agreements between governments and humanitarian organizations.

"Without well-prepared regulatory frameworks at national level, relief operations can become bureaucratic nightmares," explains Gabriella Waaijman, Officer-in-Charge of OCHA Eastern Africa, serving as one of the event's facilitators. "Relief goods, equipment and personnel get bogged down in paperwork and restrictions, potentially costing lives during relief efforts."

"Using the guidelines, governments can ready themselves to avoid legal bottlenecks while still ensuring adequate systems of oversight of the quality of relief efforts," adds Maxine Clayton, acting Head of IFRC’s East Africa Regional Office. "We hope this workshop will not only be an opportunity to take stock of lessons learned from the ongoing Horn of Africa drought response, but also serve as an important first step for governments and regional bodies such as the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to develop tools and agreements based on the IDRL Guidelines."

The major humanitarian organisation working in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda are attending the event, from National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies to UN agencies such as WFP and NGOs such as Save the Children. The event is being held in the city of Mombasa, home to the largest port in the region, through which much of the humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa drought response passes.

For further information and/or to schedule interviews, please contact: IFRC: Sanne Boswijk, Disaster Law Coordinator for Africa, +251 09 003 4016, sanne.boswijk@ifrc.org OCHA: Gabriella Waaijman, OCHA Eastern Africa, +254 (0) 732 600012, waaijman@un.org

for more information International Disaster Law, go to www.ifrc.org/dl