Philippines Continues to Raise Awareness on Disaster Displacement 

Ambassador Evan P. Garcia (2nd from left), Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva, together with other members of the Steering Group of the Platform on Disaster Displacement on 19 January 2018, first meeting of the PDD this year and hand over of the chairmanship of the PDD from Germany to Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Chirine El Labbane, PDD)

06 February 2018 GENEVA — Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva Evan P. Garcia expressed the Philippines’ commitment in continuing to raise awareness on disaster displacement during the first meeting early this year of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), a state-led platform that works towards better protection for disaster-displaced people. The meeting was likewise the handover of the chairmanship of the PDD from Germany to Bangladesh.

The Philippines is a founding member and a member of the Steering Group of the PDD. The Steering Group directs and steers the work of the PDD at the global level based on a strategic framework and a work plan.

The Philippines has participated actively in the PDD through providing political support and commitment to the many projects and initiatives of the PDD in 2016 and in 2017. It has helped promote the PDD by lending its expertise in speaking engagements, side events and in a promotional video that the PDD produced in 2017 during the International Day of Disaster Reduction, a collaboration with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

PDD aims to follow-up on its predecessor –the Nansen Initiative (led by Switzerland and Norway)– and to implement the recommendations of the Protection Agenda, a toolbox to better prepare for displacement and to respond to situations when people are forced to find refuge, within their own country or across a border. END

For more information, visit www.genevapm.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/genevapcg.