GMS-CDC

Phnom Penh, 15 October 2009.- H.E. Nhim Vanda, Senior Minister, First Vice President of the National Committee for Disaster Management of the Kingdom of Cambodia opened the first “Mekong Regional Forum on Legal Preparedness & Regional Arrangements for Disaster and Communicable Diseases Emergencies” that took place on 15-16 October 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The 2-day event gathered officials from Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and respective national Red Cross societies, as well as experts from International Organizations such as International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance (MBDS), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Greater Mekong Subregion Communicable Diseases Control project (“ADB GMS CDC”) and private law office and legal services companies.   

During the event experts in disaster management and experts in communicable diseases control exchanged while reviewing the findings of three legal preparedness studies that had been commissioned by the ADB GMS CDC project to the IFRC in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam; they exchanged experiences and lessons learned in this area of emergency legal preparedness that was recognized by all as too frequently neglected.

Discussions on the domestic legal preparedness were followed by further review of the existing legal framework for regional arrangements and key legal issues identified for regional and cross-border responses to disaster and communicable diseases emergencies. Participants then proposed recommendations for addressing these issues and for strengthening the legal framework for regional and cross-border responses to disaster and communicable disease emergencies.
Detailed output of the event will be shared with all concerned authorities and professionals and will be posted in the respective websites of IFRC/International Disaster Response Laws, Rules, And Principles Programme (IDRL) (www.ifrc.org/idrl) and the ADB GMS CDC (www.gms-cdc.org) shortly.  

The event was co-organized by the IFRC, the Cambodian Red Cross and the Regional Coordination Unit of the ADB GMS CDC project, and was co-sponsored by the regional Pooled Fund of the ADB GMS CDC project and the IFRC.

Download the report of the event here:

  Final legal forum report (2.26 MB)