This presentation concentrates on the support that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies can offer to the Operational Coordinator and to the Promotion of the Goals of the Tampere Convention.

One of the remarkable aspects of the Tampere Convention is its deliberate integration into existing international coordination mechanisms through the important role it provides to the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator.

While the IFRC is outside and independent of the United Nations family, we work in partnership and in complementarity with the UN.

We are already working to promote awareness, acceptance and implementation of the Tampere Convention and we stand ready to consult with and provide our support to the Operational Coordinator at his request in his other enumerated tasks, in particular in the development of the various model agreements mentioned in the treaty, and in dissemination of relevant information.

The IFRC can offer insights from its substantial operational experience, as well its long history of involvement in the development of standards in international disaster response, the tools and resources developed by its International Disaster Response Laws Rules and Principles Programme, and support to the domestic advocacy of its national society members.

I will elaborate briefly on each of these areas.

The IFRC's Operating Experience

With worldwide network of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies who deploy more than 20 million active volunteers globally, our federation is the world's largest humanitarian network.

• A number of these National Societies are actively involved in international cooperation in disaster response, either directly or through the IFRC.

• For its part, the International Federation secretariat has the role of building the capacity of domestic NS, coordinating their international support in cases of disaster response, and providing direct operational assistance in major disaster situations that cannot be handled solely by the domestic society.

Since 1919, we have issued 2216 appeals for 156 countries and we have helped over 65 million beneficiaries. "

• Because the IFRC operates in part through direct operations and in part through coordinating the work of National Societies, the harmonization, and standardization of telecommunications equipment and methods of use are very important to us.

We have developed tools and protocols along these lines as described earlier at this Conference by Hugh Peterken, including the Telecommunications Emergency Relief Units, the Emergency Items Catalog (co-developed with ICRC).

Our experience in developing and deploying these tools may be helpful in the further elaboration of models and guidelines under Tampere.

Normative Experience and the IDRL Programme

• As mentioned by Dr. Schaar yesterday, the IFRC and its members have also been active throughout our history in developing normative standards to improve disaster response.

In addition to our involvement in the initial discussion of the Tampere Convention, we have had a key role in the development of some of the most important instruments in the field, such as
- the Measures to Expedite Emergency Relief adopted by the International Conference of the Red Cross and the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1977,
- the Code of Conduct for the Red Cross/ Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations in Disaster Response Programmes developed in 1994 and endorsed by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference in 1995, and
- the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in 2000.

• In 2001, we launched our International Disaster Response Laws, Rules and Principles (or "IDRL") Programme to more closely study and disseminate the existing legal frameworks at the domestic and international levels, identify problems and gap areas, and recommend solutions.

We have already begun working in partnership with OCHA on some of these issues and look forward to expanding our cooperation.

• Since 2001, we have gathered a large collection of relevant international and national instruments which are now publicly available in a searchable database on our website and which should be useful to developing further guidelines, and might also be a means of expanding access to information on national implementation as mentioned in article 9.

• The programme has also sought to learn the experiences and points of view of other actors on these issues, including through operational case studies, informal interviews.

As Dr. Schaar also mentioned, over the next year we will be organizing a series of high-level meetings with governments, UN, other international organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders to discuss solutions for legal issues in disaster response, including how to increase implementation of the Tampere Convention.

• We are currently developing a number of case studies on the legal aspects of the tsunami operations in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, to be released this summer, and a substantial desk study on IDRL analyzing the legal and operational data we have gathered and providing recommendations, the first draft of which will be available later this year.

Advocacy and Dissemination Potential of National Societies

• The other aspect of the IDRL Programme's work is dissemination, training and support to national societies on law of international disaster response. Since its beginning, the Program has been providing information to them about the Tampere Convention through informational documents, in training and other meetings.

• Each of our member societies is considered by law as an auxiliary to the government in humanitarian affairs. They are frequently integrated at the highest level in planning and implementation of emergency response, and their advice in this area is actively sought out by their governments. Their support for the Tampere Convention and its objectives may go a long way toward making its potential real on the ground.

• Over the course of the next year, we will be developing a handbook and other training materials on IDRL for national societies which will include support for advocacy efforts.

Conclusion

We are already working together with OCHA, both at an operational level and in the context of the IDRL programme. We look forward to increasing this cooperation in the context of the promotion and development of the Tampere Convention.

We also look forward to much deeper interaction with governments and other stakeholders, and the Tampere Convention's States party are already prominent in our planning for future consultations.