Data collection and Research
Statement delivered by Mr. Christopher Lamb, Head of the Humanitarian Advocacy Department, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to the United Nations' Vth Asian and Pacific Population Conference, Bangkok.
13 December 2002



There is no doubt about the importance of the collection of accurate data and statistics. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies shares the objectives so eloquently described by Professor Hull in his introduction to this item and in the main conference document (E/ESCAP/PRUD/5APPC/13). Accurate data is absolutely critical for the management of any and all disaster situations, and the issue is of the greatest importance to the International Federation and its member National Societies, as all readers of the World Disasters Report know well.

We only wish to add to that a note about the importance of the International Federation attaches to the collection and use of accurate information concerning the law relevant to the vulnerability of our populations in disaster situations.

That is why the International Federation began, in early 2001, a project aimed at collecting all available information on the current state of International Disaster Response Law, known as IDRL. The project, which has been identified as having particular value by the Secretary-General of the UN, is now in its final project phase. Outcomes will be discussed by governments and National Red Cross and Red Crescnet Societies at thier next international conference in Geneva in December 2003.

The project is assembling all-known treaty law as well as ‘soft law’ contained in the Declarations and Resolutions adopted by the UN system. It also contains guidelines and Codes of Conduct adpoted by UN bodies and other Conferences where states have had opportunities to express thier positions.

Parallel to the legal study, the International Fedration has conducted three field stuides to assess the way the law is actually implmented in real disaster situations. These studies conducted in India, Central America and Southern Africa, will enable us sitting together to consider the adequacy of legal regimes. This, in turn, will help all governments, international organisations and other concerned of disaster management to work more speedly, productively and efficiently to protect the most vulnerbles in thier population.

There are at present no adequate data systems containing the laws we are gathering. We will publish the first assembly of legal materials early in 2003 and trust that as product evolves, it will become an essential tools for governments and all others involved in disaster response, thereby contributing materially in different ways to work towards most of the millenium development goals.