Phl continues to raise awareness on disaster displacement

The Philippines expressed its commitment to continue raising awareness on disaster displacement during the first meeting of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), a state-led platform that works toward better protection for people made homeless by calamity.

The meeting also saw the handover of the chairmanship of the PDD from Germany to Bangladesh.

The Philippines is a founding member of the steering group that directs work at the global level based on a strategic framework and plan.

Even Garcia, Philippine permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, said the Philippines has participated actively in the PDD through providing political support and commitment to its many projects and initiatives in 2016 and 2017.

The Philippines has helped promote the PDD by lending its expertise in speaking engagements, side events, and in a promotional video produced in 2017 during the International Day of Disaster Reduction, a collaboration with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

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 wherein people are forced to find refuge within their own country or across a border.