Monthly Archives: January 2010
Ban Ki Moon Confirms Death of Haiti UN Mission chief, Hedi Annabi; Delays at PaP Airport
Ban Ki Moon issues a statement confirming the deaths of MINUSTAH chief Hedi Annabi, Deputy mission chief Luiz Carlos da Costa and acting police commissioner Doug Coates.
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
I am deeply saddened to confirm the tragic death of my Special Representative to Haiti, Hédi Annabi. His Deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa and the Acting Police Commissioner, Doug Coates of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, are also confirmed to have perished.
No One Needs Your Old Shoes: How Not to Help in Haiti
1) Don’t donate goods. Donating stuff instead of money is a serious problem in emergency relief. Only the people on the ground know what’s actually necessary; those of us in the rest of the world can only guess. Some things, like summer clothes and expired medicines are going to be worthless in Haiti. Other stuff, like warm clothes and bottled water may be helpful to some people in some specific ways. Separating the useful from the useless takes manpower that can be doing more important work.
False Reports of UN Ordering Medical Personnel to Leave Haiti Field Hospital
In response to troubling reports that the UN ordered doctors to leave a field hospital in Haiti (including a front page feature on CNN.com), here’s an official statement Dispatch just received:
PSA: Video from the UN Foundation
From the UN Foundation:
Two days after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, UN Foundation Vice President of Global Health Dr. Daniel Carucci traveled to Haiti to deliver vital medical supplies and will continue to assess the situation on the ground.
David Brooks Wants to Know Why Haiti is Poor
David Brooks starts out strong in a New York Times editorial asking why Haiti is so poor. He makes the very good point that development economics has remarkably few consistent ideas on how to bring about growth. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse a couple of paragraphs later. He ends the piece blaming voodoo and Haitian culture for the nation’s ongoing poverty and his recommendation for change is “paternalism.”
Resources for Friends and Family of UN’s Haiti Staff
The United Nations Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support have launched two social networking sites to keep friends, families and colleagues of UN staff in Haiti up to date on the latest news.
-Facebook page DPKO Support Page for UN Staff in Haiti contains the latest UN announcements, news reports, resource contacts and a capacity to receive questions from those concerned about the welfare of UN staff in Haiti. The site also contains links to all UN recovery efforts underway in Haiti.
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The SC; HRC; DPRK; South Sudan
The SC: The Security Council today held its last consultations under the Council Presidency of ROK. Tomorrow, Russia will take over the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for March under Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
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The SG; Mali; Middle East; Palestine
The SG: At the Fifth Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna, Austria today, the SG emphasized the role of youth in ensuring a “prosperous, equitable and peaceful future.”
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The SG; DRC; HRC; Palestinian Prisoner
The SG: In Ethiopia over the weekend, the SG is now in the United Arab Emirates. Today he met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, where the two discussed developments in the region, including Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and in the Middle East Peace Process.
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