The Role of ICAO in Humanitarian Response
In the aftermath of a disaster, aviation constitutes an essential lifeline for the people affected, as the efficient arrival of life-saving equipment, supplies, and humanitarian experts is critical in the first hours after an event occurs. During crisis response, lack of effective communication amongst stakeholders, along with a myriad of responder priorities leads to a degradation of coordination and communication that can severely affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the humanitarian response.
ICAO, as chair of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response in Aviation (HADRA) Experts Group, has been working alongside humanitarian/crisis response partners to implement tools that will allow responders to plan relief operations more efficiently, while ensuring that their humanitarian and aviation stakeholders have reliable information critical to crisis planning and response. The objective of the HADRA is to enhance preparedness and response capabilities of States, aviation stakeholders and humanitarian stakeholders in the event of a disaster. The activities the group undertakes is intended to incentivize the integration of airport preparedness in countries’ disaster preparedness planning and other sectoral programs of relevance.
This work contributes to the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 11), to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, to the SAMOA Pathway and to the UN Common Agenda, and is fully aligned with ICAO Assembly Resolution A39-24, Strategy on Disaster Risk Reduction and Response Mechanisms in Aviation and with the ICAO Crisis Response Policy adopted in 2017.”
