Sendai Framework for DRR Incorporated in the Declaration of Guatemala, Towards the World Humanitarian Summit

By: UNDRR - Americas

Source: OCHA

PANAMA, Panama, 18 May, 2015 -  The Declaration of Guatemala, product of the “VII Meeting on International Mechanisms of Humanitarian Assistance (MIAH)”, included a reference to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR) as a global reference for comprehensive risk management on the post-2015 developmental agenda.

The three-day meeting, which concluded in Guatemala yesterday, was held in conjunction with the “World Humanitarian Summit Regional Consultation Meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean” focused on humanitarian effectiveness, reducing vulnerability, managing risk and transformation through innovation, as well as serving the needs of people in situations of  conflict, displacement and violence.

 “With the addition of Sendai Framework in the Declaration of Guatemala, humanitarian actors contribute to building resilience at all levels, and it reinforces the growing tendency to link the issues of risk management to development processes and not only to the response,” said Ricardo Mena, Head of the Regional Office for the Americas of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

In this sense, Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, highlighted: “The humanitarian action should be more than just delivering aid after a disaster. It should empower people, especially women and girls, to live with dignity.”

Likewise, Jemilah Mahmood, Head of World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), added that “we can no longer think of the men and women affected by conflict and disasters as mere victims. They are the first to respond and mobilize. They continue long after the flow of foreign aid has diminished.”

The regional consultation process in Latin America and the Caribbean was rated by Mahmood as the “widest conducted to date in all of the regions,” and will provide key inputs to the First World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), to be held in Istanbul, Turkey during the first half of 2016, collecting vast experience of the region in the areas of cooperation, emergency management and disaster reduction.

In preparation for the WHS, since last year, consultations have been conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean that have gathered the perspectives of the communities, people affected by humanitarian crises, governments, regional organizations, the UN system, humanitarian and development organizations, as well as academic and private sectors from 31 countries. Nearly 5,000 people have been consulted, half of whom have been affected by disasters.

Related Links:

Declaration of Guatemala (Spanish)

Declaration of Guatemala (English)

VII MIAH Meeting

World Humanitarian Summit