Attachments
Summary for Policy Makers
In June 2015 Cambodia’s legislature passed the Law on Disaster Management (DM Law). This represents a major shift from an institutional system for disaster management based only on subsidiary legislation, which had been in place since 1995, to a broader and more authoritative legislative mandate on disaster management. A legal framework for disaster management assigns legally binding roles and responsibilities, establishes institutions, and can also help ensure allocation of resources and mechanisms for coordination amongst different institutions.
Cambodia’s DM Law objective is to regulate disaster management in Cambodia and it has the three stated goals of:
- Prevention, adaptation and mitigation in the pre-disaster period, due to natural or human-made causes
- Emergency response during the disaster
- Recovery in the post-disaster period
In addition, it clarifies that hazard risk prevention programmes need to address climate change adaptation.
The DM Law formalizes the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) as the main authority of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) on disaster management, and mandates it to ‘lead, administer and coordinate all disaster management activities.’ The law also formalizes the expenditure mechanism for the functioning of NCDM which is allocated by the national budget in the budget plan of the Office of the Council of Ministers, and the state is required to maintain a sufficient reserve to resource disaster management. The NCDM is to be supported by a Secretariat-General, focal points in line government ministries, and Sub-National Committees for Disaster Management down to local level, which have a key operational role. The disaster management framework and relative responsibilities of these institutions are set out in broad terms within the law.
The DM Law also provides, for the first time, a strong legal basis for the NCDM to coordinate international assistance during major disasters, including provisions to clarify the country’s needs in the case of an appeal for assistance, and then facilitate tax exemption entry of humanitarian relief supplies, and coordination of assisting international institutions. The law also sets out rights, obligations and legal penalties concerning disaster situations.
The DM Law, like most legislation in Cambodia, provides an ‘umbrella’ mandate that relies on subsidiary legislation to be made by the executive branch, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), to provide for more detailed implementation. For example, under the DM Law, subsidiary legislation in the form of Royal Decrees (Preah Reach Kret), and Sub-Decrees (Anu-Kret), together with the principal law, provide the basis for policies, plans and implementation strategies on disaster management. The DM Law requires that decrees are made to set out in detail the organization and functioning of the NCDM and the Secretariat-General, including the appointment of senior officers in the Secretariat-General, as well the organization and functioning of the Sub-National Committees for Disaster Management. A decree is required to establish a National Disaster Management Day, as well as for key operational matters, including the national mobilization procedure after a disaster is declared, and how the entry of international humanitarian assistance will be facilitated in practical terms.
The task of drafting such decrees, along with guidelines specified in the DM Law, is now a priority for full implementation of this law. This report is intended to provide the RGC, and more specifically the NCDM, with a practical resource and recommendations for the next stage of implementation of the DM Law.
The discussion in this report has focused on implementing the DM Law through the subsidiary legislation mandated within the law itself. The recommendations for development of substantive decrees are based on the specific provisions that require them, and the overall objectives and goals of the DM Law. An effort has also been made to address the key challenges identified by stakeholders and reviews of the pre-existing system. The report includes some additional areas proposed for subsidiary legislation for consideration of the RGC, which are not mandated by the DM Law, but fall within its general scope.
Table 1, below, summarizes the nine mandated Royal Decrees and Sub-Decrees in the DM Law and recommends a general approach to each. As noted in the table, not all of these decrees are intended to be substantive regulations. The Sub-Decree on the national disaster days (Article 5), and the Royal Decree appointing the NCDM office holders (Article 7) are straightforward procedural decrees that do not require further comment in this report. The remaining seven decrees, and recommendations on their content, are discussed below the table, with a summary of the report’s recommendations on their content.