International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) in Indonesia: An analysis of the impact and implementation of Indonesia’s legal framework for international disaster assistance

The relief efforts following the 2004 tsunami revealed significant challenges for Indonesia’s legal and institutional regime for disaster response, and precipitated the enactment of a new law in 2007 to regulate disaster relief and govern the entire disaster management system, from preparedness to response and recovery. As a result, Indonesia is now at the forefront of disaster-prone countries that have developed, and are continuing to develop, comprehensive legal regimes to support the entire disaster management spectrum.

This report reviews the key chapters of Indonesia’s disaster management law of 2007 and its ancillary regulations relating to international assistance, discussing the new agencies that it established and the legal framework which spans from pre-disaster, to emergency response, to post-disaster management. More specifically, it focuses on the provisions contained in the legal framework regarding emergency response and, in particular, the regulation and participation of foreign countries, international institutions and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in disaster relief.

This report also examines the legal framework in Indonesia in light of the Guidelines for the domestic facilitation and regulation of international disaster relief and ini- tial recovery assistance (also known as the ‘IDRL Guidelines’). The IDRL Guidelines were developed by IFRC to establish a core set of principles and standards for facilitating international assistance. To illustrate the impact and implementation of the legal framework, observations from two recent case studies have been included: the West Sumatera earthquake in 2009 and the Yogyakarta (Mount Merapi) volcanic eruption in 2010.