GUIDELINES FOR THE PREPARATION AND EXECUTION OF INTERNATIONAL RESCUE ACTIVITIES AS A KEY ELEMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS MECHANISM FOR DISASTER ASSISTANCE

Abstract

The United Nations provides an integral system of support and implementation of coordinated internatinal rescue and humanitarian assistance in the event of natural or other disasters, when a country cannot provide rescue and other assistance to affected people on its own and requests the help of other countries. Together with the development of other mechanisms for coordinating international assistance in the European Union, NATO and in many non-governmental organisations (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies etc.) the UN still performs the most important coordination role during disasters, above all in developing countries. One of the UN tools for increasing the effectiveness of international rescue assistance is the INSARAG Guidelines, which improve the coordination and effectiveness of the activities of different rescue units performing rescue activities in another country.