Crisis Response and Disaster Risk Reduction
Civil aviation plays an essential role in supporting assistance to States and regions affected by natural disasters, conflicts and pandemics. Over its more than 70-year history, ICAO has responded to numerous crises including aviation-specific occurrences, as well as natural and man-made disasters that affect aviation. However, ICAO has not established a formal and structured approach to crises, and the Organization’s responses have largely been organized in an ad hoc fashion. The 39th Session of the Assembly of ICAO considered the need for the establishment of a framework to guide the Organization’s response to crises and directed the Council “to establish a crisis response policy”, as well as a “disaster risk reduction strategy in aviation that would institutionalize and guide the Organization’s strategic approach and tactical responses to aviation-specific crises that could affect the safety or continuity of international civil aviation”. (Resolution A39-24 refers.)
The Council approved an ICAO Crisis Response Policy that will provide a formalized structure to the Organization’s response to crises including aircraft accidents, natural and man-made disasters, acts of unlawful interference and pandemics that significantly impact international air transport and affect public confidence in the safety and security of air transportation. Specific organizational procedures and administrative instructions will be developed during 2018. The Council also endorsed, in principle, a disaster risk reduction strategy to assist States in taking a more proactive approach to identify risks and vulnerabilities in their civil aviation infrastructure and to build resilience into their aviation system.
