Meeting online on 20 February 2024, the Current Affairs Committee adopted the draft report on “Local and regional responses to natural disasters and climate hazards: from risk preparedness to resilience”, prepared by Jean-Paul BASTIN (Belgium, EPP/CCE) and Christian DEBEVE (France, ILDG). The report, which will be debated by the Congress in plenary on 28 March 2024, examines the main challenges faced by local and regional authorities in specific crisis situations, including natural disasters such as earthquakes, but also extreme floodings and other climate-related hazards.

The report promotes the idea that responses by local and regional authorities need to be provided in co-operation with other levels of governance and partners in the community, and that ecological, social, and economic transitions will be essential elements of a structural crisis response.

The Committee also held an exchange of views on the role of local and regional authorities in combatting human trafficking, with the participation of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Committee members furthermore heard from the 2023 Congress Youth Delegates about youth engagement and key challenges faced by young people – such as access to social services and housing – and discussed how local and regional authorities address them.