The role of national governments in international humanitarian response

The 26th ALNAP Meeting on the role of national governments in international humanitarian response to disasters was hosted by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement supported by Mercy Malaysia, and took place from the 16th to 17th November 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting brought together a range of key humanitarian and government actors, including National Disaster Management Authorities, with the specific aim of exploring better ways of collaborating in disaster response. The meeting felt historic and important. Simply having government representatives responsible for disaster management at an ALNAP meeting debating how they could work better with international humanitarian actors was hugely symbolically significant and should lead to a process of improved dialogue between governments and international humanitarian actors. This paper combines a background paper published in advance of the ALNAP meeting held in November 2010 on the role of national governments with findings from that meeting.