General Assembly USAR Resolution

The creation of a INSARAG Legal Framework, has been pursued by INSARAG member countries following the INSARAG meeting in Germany in December 1999, which was organized by the German Government to review the international response to the major earthquakes in Turkey, Taiwan and Greece in 1999.

As a culmination of a intensive three year process, on 16 December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly has formally adopted a General Assembly Resolution on Strengthening the Effectiveness and Coordination of International Urban Search and Rescue Assistance (GA Resolution 57/150 of 16 December 2002). This resolution was introduced by Turkey and co-sponsored by 58 member states of the UN.

The adoption of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Strengthening the Effectiveness and Coordination of International Urban Search and Rescue Assistance provides a unique opportunity for improving coordination and cooperation in international earthquake response and to strengthening the response capacity in disaster prone countries.

Member states of the United Nations are encouraged to implement the recommendations of the new GA Resolution as well as the INSARAG Guidelines and include them into their national emergency response plans and their training programmes for international and national urban search and rescue teams.

Please use the following link to view the resolution in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic