The aim of the workshop hosted by AFAD’s Legal Consultancy Department was to encourage competent 
legal experts of the DPPI SEE member countries to exchange information with regard to their national disaster management frameworks and brainstorm constructive recommendations through assessment of the following:
- Strengths and weaknesses of the existing legal frameworks
- Legal analysis (if any) of regulations governing the areas such as early warning, environmental management, risk insurance, humanitarian aid, human rights, women and vulnerable groups in disasters
- Need for amendments and/or adjustments in the disaster management legislations to comply with technological and/or social developments, including in line with other national and international requirements.
Workshop discussions mainly built upon crucial elements of the countries’ presentations, including upon the key problems and gaps identified, e.g.: national strategic challenges in shifting the national focus from recovery and relief to prevention and preparedness and their reflection in the countries’ legal systems, the governments’ legal responsibilities throughout the disaster management cycle, national disaster management funding constraints under the existing legislations, etc.
Due to the on-going migrant/ refugee crisis, the workshop had a rather low attendance. Ten (10) participants from five (5) DPPI SEE member countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), next to other ten (10) representatives of AFAD, attended the event. This being the case, AFAD, inter alia, also put forth legal recommendations of Turkey for such crisis management.
