Council of Europe

EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement,

8th Ministerial Meeting, 21-22 February 2000 in Athens, Greece

The Ministers adopted the following texts:

…

-         declaration on a permanent telecommunications link between the persons responsible for risk management in the Member States of the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement,

The competent Ministers,

Of the Open Partial Agreement of the concil of Europe on the prevention of, protection against and organization of relief in major natural and technological disasters (EUR-OPA Major-Hazards- Agreement) whose main objectives are:

  - to reinforce cooperation between member states in a multy-disciplinary context to ensure better prevention, protection and organization of relief in the event of major natural and technological disasters

  - to promote coordination between member states by calling upon all present day resources and knowledge to ensure the efficient and interdependent management of major hazards,

Considering

that the increase in natural and technological hazards constitutes a thread to human like and has very serious consequences,

Noting

That in applicatin of the spirit of the Tampere Convention on the provision of telecommunication resources for disaster mitigation and relief operations in the case of disaster, which recalls in particular:

- that humanitarian relief and assistance agencies require reliable, flexible telecommunication resources to perform their vital tasks,

- the essential role of telecommunication resources in facilitating the safety of humanitarian relief and assisting personnel,

- that effective, timely deployment of telecommunication resources and that rapid, efficient, accurate and trouthful information flows are essential to reducing loss of life, human suffering and damage to property and the environment caused by disasters,

- the special needs of the disaster-prone least developed countries for technical assistance to develop telecommunication resources for disaster mitigation and relief operations in the case of disaster,

- the absolute priority accorded to emergency life-saving communications in more than fifty international regulatory instrument, including the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union.

Further noting

The prominent role given to communication resoures in the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safer World, adopted by the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (Yokohama, 1994),

Desiring

To ensure the reliable, rapid availability of telecommunication resources for disaster mitigation and relief operations, and

Further desiring

To facilitate international cooperation to mitigate the impact of disasters,

The Ministers,

Expressing their agreement to establish a permanent communications link (Intranet concept) in order to foster cooperation and assistance in decision-making in the area of risk management on the Euro- Mediterranean level,

To achieve this, request that, in the framework of the Council of Europe EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement, in cooperation with the other European and international institutions interested, the Electronic Discussion Group for Risk Management (EDRIM), be implemented,

Recommend those Governments who have not so far done so to sign and ratify the Tampere Convention, as follow-up to resolution 36 of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Minneapolis, November 1998).

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