Institutional

1
Institutional Legal Frameworks
for Disaster Preparedness
DPPT Workshop5-7 May 2008Villars-sur-Ollon,
Switzerland
2
Institutional Legal Frameworks for Disaster
Preparedness

• Discuss national legal frameworks and the
  institutional architecture
• Identify common legal problems
• Discuss regional and international agreements
  treaties and their efficacy
• Examine a few legal preparedness tools that
  OCHA staff can use and promote
• Any questions?

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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture National Legal
Frameworks

• What is a legal framework and what is a
  normative framework?
• What are the relationships between policies,
  legislation, strategies, plans, SOPs, etc.?
• The core piece of legislation the National
  Disaster Management Act/Law?

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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture Other Relevant Areas
of Law

• Which other areas of law are relevant?
• Human rights law
• Property and land rights
• Customs law
• Law of international organisations
• Refugee and IDP law
• etc.

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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture NDMO in the Prime
Ministers Office
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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture NDMO in one Specific
Ministry
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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture DM Units in each
Ministry
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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture Organisations/Instituti
ons Comprising the Institutional Framework

• Ministries PM/Presidents Office, Health,
  Interior, Transport, etc.
• The NDMO
• Civil Protection Authority
• National RC/RC Society as auxiliary to public
  authorities
• NGOs/CSOs
• IOs, UN as applicable
• Committees Inter-Ministerial, Cross-Sectoral
• Institutions/Authorities at lower levels of
  Administration

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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture Limits of Law
Institutional Frameworks Effectiveness of the
System

• Coordination challenges
• Mandates clearly designated Vs overlaps
• Authority of different institutions
• Actual capacity to deliver including existence
  of stocks, assets, etc.
• Procedures, SOPs
• External events affecting political and
  governance structures
• Anything else?

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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture Expected Outcomes
GIP

• GIP 2.2
• A national framework that details disaster
  preparedness response and recovery roles,
  responsibilities, and funding mechanisms is
  developed or updated, widely disseminated
  and consistently implemented
• GIP 2.1
• Ideally based on the overall, holistic disaster
  risk reduction strategy

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I. National Legal Frameworks and the
Institutional Architecture Indicators

• National
• Clearly defined institutional structures
• Legal Framework in place and disseminated
• Civil Society
• Inclusive of Civil Society and communities
• Clear roles for communities, CSOs and others
• Regional International
• Harmonized regional policies
• Provision of technical support

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II. Why is all this important? Common Legal
Problems
Pakistan EQ Pakistan suffered from the lack of
a pre-existing NDMA and identified the creation
of a legal framework as a lesson to apply
NDMA, ISDR Side event at ECOSOC, 2006

• Predictability
• Efficiency
• Quality
• Legitimacy

• Coordination
• Commitment of Authorities

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II. Common Legal Problems Typical Problems for
International Actors

• Access/Personnel
• Delay in provision of assistance
• Legal status in the host country
• Problems in entering into legal relationships
• Goods, transport equipment
• Delays and extra-costs
• Coordination, quality and accountability
• Undermining national efforts, disrespect for
  local knowledge, etc.
• Why should OCHA care?

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II. Common Legal Problems Specificity of OCHA,
UN, IOs RC/RC Vs NGOs

• IO no problem with legal personality
• Privileges and immunities
• NGOs generally need to be officially recognized
  by national authorities

• Examples of common privileges immunities
• Exemption from standard immigration restrictions
  work permit rules and from customs
  regulations duties
• Recognition of legal personality at the domestic
  level allowing to enter into enforceable
  contracts, institute any other legal proceedings
• Immunity from jurisdiction of domestic courts and
  administrative tribunals, etc.

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III. Specificity of Bilateral, Regional,
or International Agreements

• What type of agreements exist?
• What is the nature of these agreements?
• Importance of soft law documents

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III. Specificity of Bilateral, Regional or
International Agreements Type of Agreements

• Agreements creating organizations which can have
  normative authority and/or operational functions
• Simple cooperation agreements
• Normative agreements
• Model agreements

• Example Tampere Convention on the Provision of
  Telecommunication Resources for Disaster
  Mitigation and Relief Operations, 1998

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III. Specificity of Bilateral, Regional or
International Agreements Type of Agreements

• Treaties agreements of international law
• Binding only between States of between States and
  IOs
• Requirement not only for signature but also for
  ratification
• Can have overlapping provisions i.e. different
  systems for funnelling requests/offers for
  international assistance
• Varying geographical coverage

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III. Specificity of Bilateral, Regional or
International Agreements Importance of Soft Law
Documents

• Limitations of international hard law is
  leading to an enormous use of soft law
  documents
• Consequence most comprehensive documents are
  often soft law documents
• Examples
• The HFA!!
• Regional Policies ASEAN, ECOWAS, IGAD, SADC,
  AU-NEPAD
• IDRL Guidelines, IASC Operational Guidelines on
  Human Rights in Natural Disasters, Guiding
  Principles on Internal Displacement, etc.

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IV. What can OCHA do to promote institutional
legal preparedness? - Legal Preparedness Tools
that OCHA Staff can Use Promote

• Model Customs Agreement
• Guidelines for the Domestic Facilitation
  Regulation of International Disaster Relief
  Initial Recovery Assistance

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IV. Legal Preparedness Tools that OCHA Staff
can Use Promote Model Customs Agreement

• What is it?
• Its aim?
• Speed up and simplify existing national customs
  clearance procedures
• What does it cover, if signed?
• Who can sign it?
• Examples

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IV. Legal Preparedness Tools that OCHA Staff
can Use Promote IDRL Guidelines
How they can
be used?

• What are they?
• What is their objective?
• To provide guidance to States on what they should
  have in their legislation
• What do they contain?
• Specific parts of importance to OCHA?

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IV. Legal Preparedness Tools that OCHA Staff
can Use Promote Indonesia Case Example

• April 2007, adoption of first comprehensive
  disaster management act
• What did OCHA do?
• DMA called for implementing regulations, one of
  which on international assistance
• What did OCHA do?
• OCHA as the engine and coordinator of
  international support for the drafting of the
  regulation

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IV. Legal Preparedness Tools that OCHA Staff
can Use Promote Summary

• Coordination function
• promote holistic approach, inclusiveness
• Coordinate support of international community
  national efforts in strengthening legal and
  institutional capacity
• Join national planning teams
• Advocacy
• Promote use of IDRL Guidelines Model Customs
  Agreement
• Others?