With Pakistan’s frequency of floods rising, the landscape of the country has become one of the most damaged by these disasters in the world. The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) is tasked with preventing flood risks, issuing warnings, and coordinating disaster management activities; however, the impact of such disasters on human rights are often overlooked. Incorporating legal services that ensure fairness into their flood prevention initiatives can help the FFC further their goals of preventing floodravaged landscape and building a more equitable future for those affected.
Equal access legal services empower vulnerable and marginalized communities to navigate and uphold their rights when faced with legal challenges. These services are often necessary to provide access to just outcomes, and integrating them into Gamification Strategies and Pre-Disaster Risk Reduction strategies can have a lasting impact on a community long after a flood has occurred.
As of 2005, the FFC has published nine editions of “Flood Management and Dam Safety in Pakistan” that details the history of major causes of flooding; highlights the current state of major rivers and waterways; and provides recommendations on how to mitigate flooding and update their flood management system. Their website provides an overview of the FFC’s organization, roles and objectives of the FFC. Their primary focus, “the part that to be supported by the Government of Pakistan, is to ensure that the flood risk management system developed through the project work will be supported by the Government and will be sustained.”
Despite the substantial amount of education and mitigation efforts provided by the FFC, the arduous task of providing equal access to justice to communities at risk of flooding continues to remain unaddressed. For example, the only approach by the FFC to integrate equal access legal services into their initiatives is the “Establishment of National Disaster Management System (Phase-I)” which they have used to coordinate with legal service providers all over the country and promote the use of lawyers for local government bodies in order to uphold laws and regulations. By focusing on laws and regulations as a main driver in disaster management initiatives, it is important to expand this approach to other organizations or groups that may benefit from equal access to legal services.
To extend the opportunities that the FFC is providing their network to all those affected by flooding, the FFC can begin coordinating with civic organizations and other governmental bodies within Pakistan in order to introduce equal access legal services into the flood prevention strategy. Not only would this allow for those displaced by flooding to access legal services and know their rights, but it could increase the use of case studies and data to help the FFC further encourage the government of Pakistan to adopt effective flood management policies.
It is no mystery that incorporating equal access legal services into flood management initiatives will provide considerable benefits to everyone involved. To host case studies on their website detailing how equal access legal services have helped other disaster management organizations in the past, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, would begin to highlight the fact that the two can go hand-in-hand. For example, a case study on how FEMA used equal access legal services and disaster mitigation grants could help elevate further humanitarian efforts.
Barriers such as obtaining funding for equal access legal services often present themselves as it relates to disaster mitigation strategies. Luckily, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees currently works in partnership with the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Development Program, and the Federal Flood Commission to implement the Pakistan Resilience Project which addresses flood risk management in disaster prone areas; The Federal Flood Commission can leverage other groups working on disaster management in Pakistan to determine how to adopt the approach that FEMA took to provide equal access legal services.
By addressing knowledge gaps between civic organizations and disaster management agencies, the Federal Flood Commission can improve their records of how to integrate equal access legal services into their efforts and promote their past successes. Using Outcome Mapping techniques such as Reflection, a formal process to evaluate what has been achieved and the quality and significance of the change, would be another great way to demonstrate the integration of equal access legal services into other disaster management initiatives and mapping out a long-term approach to mitigating flooding in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, the public at large is not very familiar with the benefits of equal access legal services and why they are necessary. The best way to begin resolving this is to regularly post information on the need for equal access legal services and collecting case studies on why they are important to their efforts. Just as they did with their efforts to demonstrate the need for the disaster management system, the effort placed on understanding their community and what will best serve them can make the difference in making equal access legal services a priority.
Promoting equitable justice within their system by informing their communities of the resources available to them, and updating their legal language to be comprehensive enough to consider all possibilities and the most vulnerable communities will make a difference in each community they are a part of. The FFC can begin by collaborating with civic organizations within Pakistan to ensure that everyone affected by floods is allowed equal access to justice that they may not have known was available to them.
As mentioned previously, there will always be barriers to include equal access legal services into disaster management activities but developing a quick five or ten minute training on what exactly equal access legal services are, why they are necessary and what it will take to establish them as a regular service is the first step in the right direction.
The long-term impacts of integrating equal access legal services into flood risk management strategies within Pakistan are significant. By providing equal access to legal services to the most vulnerable populations across the country and increasing awareness of the rights that every citizen has, not only will they see an increase in coordination surrounding the long-term effects of flooding, but their use of robust data to accompany their out-risk management approach will undoubtedly encourage the government of Pakistan to continue supporting agencies like the FFC.
By adopting a whole-community approach to disaster management strategies, the entire nation will benefit from the systematic approach that the Federal Flood Commission of Pakistan has demonstrated throughout the years.