BY MARTIN
NESIRKY, SPOKESPERSON OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

 UN
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, January 15, 2010

 

*The briefing today was by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs John Holmes, who discussed the humanitarian effort in Haiti.
Other news items from the U.N. system follow:

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL: UNITED NATIONS TO LAUNCH
EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR $550 MILLION

• In remarks
  to the press today, the Secretary-General said that preliminary
  estimates from UN emergency teams in
  
  Haiti show widespread damage to infrastructure in Port au Prince and
  other affected areas, with as many as 50 percent of buildings in the
  worst-hit areas damaged or destroyed.
   

• A high proportion of the 3 million people in
  the capital area are without access to food, water, shelter and
  electricity, he added.
   

• This afternoon, the Secretary-General said,
  the UN will launch an emergency flash appeal for around $550 million.
  Most of this money will go to urgent needs: food and water are in
  critically short supply. Given the number of people in the streets,
  without homes, we must provide shelter, and tents are needed badly, he
  said. Medical supplies and personnel are also needed.
   

• He added that he is dispatching Assistant
  Secretary General Tony Banbury, in the UN office of field operations, to
  Haiti to serve as Edmond Mulet’s principal deputy Special
  Representative.

 

U.N.
MISSION IN HAITI FOCUSING ON HUMANITARIAN DELIVERIES AND RESCUE OPERATIONS

• 
  The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
  reported that its military operations remain focused on supporting the
  delivery of humanitarian assistance and rescue operations.
   

• 
  An aerial reconnaissance was conducted over Port au Prince on 13 January
  to detect the most affected areas and identify others where people have
  sheltered. This allowed aid workers to start distributing humanitarian
  assistance as of 14 January.
   

• 
  Also, MINUSTAH is reinforcing military and UN Police patrols throughout
  the city to prevent criminality.
   

• 
  On the humanitarian side, flights carrying humanitarian aid have arrived
  from Spain, France, USA, Peru, Chile, Canada, Jamaica, Dominican
  Republic, Ecuador and Brazil, with medical personnel and supplies,
  search and rescue teams, and food.
   

• 
  The Haitian Prime Minister and President met Thursday with MINUSTAH’s
  Deputy Special Representative in Charge of Humanitarian Assistance, Kim
  Bolduc. The Minister of Interior was assigned as a liaison officer to
  coordinate relief efforts with the international community, as per
  normal Government procedures.
   

• 
  Today, Jordanian, Brazilian and Colombian mobile military hospitals will
  arrive to support the humanitarian efforts. One of them is to be soon
  installed nearby the Police Academy to take care of injured Haitian
  National Police Officers.
   

• 
  Food and water supplies were distributed in two main areas, and
  continues today in five others.  The main zones of distribution are
  currently located in: Delmas 33, Bourdon (Primature), Centre Ville
  (downtown) and Place Boyer. The distribution has been carried out by
  MINUSTAH military personnel in cooperation with international
  humanitarian organizations and NGOs.
   

• 
  The World Food Programme (WFP) started feeding 8,000 people on a regular
  basis several times a day since Thursday.
   

• 
  The strong need for medical supplies and equipment prevails, as the
  situation in local hospitals remain precarious in terms of personnel and
  equipment.
   

• 
  Asked about efforts to rescue the roughly 100 UN personnel believed to
  be trapped in the rubble of the Christopher Hotel, the Spokesperson said
  that efforts continue to locate people, using sniffer dogs and sensors,
  among other assets, but no new people have been found alive so far
  today.
   

• 
  Asked who is charge of the nearby airport, he said that the United
  Nations is working in strong coordination with the US Government, which
  has brought its own assets and expertise to the area, and with the
  Haitian Government, to whom the airport belongs.
   

• 
  Asked about security efforts, he said that the United Nations is looking
  after security, in concert with the Haitian National Police.

 

AIR SHUTTLE SERVICE TO FLY BETWEEN SANTO
DOMINGO AND PORT AU PRINCE

• The Spokesperson provided an update on the
  air shuttle service mentioned by the Under-Secretary-General for Field
  Support, Susana Malcorra, earlier this week. It won’t be from Miami, but
  between Port au Prince and Santo Domingo, flying a round-trip between
  the Haitian and Dominican Republic’s capitals once a day.
   

• Its purpose is to assist with rescue efforts
  and the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and to shuttle people on a
  priority basis. Journalists will be able to use this depending on
  availability.

 

U.N. RELIEF COORDINATOR STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF
COORDINATION IN HAITI

• The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, John
  Holmes, has
  
  warned of growing needs in the days ahead in Haiti and stressed the
  importance of coordination.
   

• Already the Office for the Coordination of
  Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Haiti is coordinating more than 25
  search-and-rescue teams that are now working on hospitals, schools,
  hotels and larger buildings. A further 13 teams are mobilizing and will
  receive support from the UN’s Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team
  at the airport.
   

• Dozens of countries
  have offered assistance, and specialized UN coordination teams are
  working to ensure that aid quickly reaches the right people at the right
  time.
   

• The World Health
  Organization is coordinating medical assistance and sending a 12-member
  team specializing in victim care, while NGOs such as Medecins sans
  Frontiers are scaling up their efforts on the ground as quickly as
  possible.

 

W.F.P. SAYS ITS FOOD STOCKS IN HAITI’S CAPITAL
ARE INTACT

• The World Food Programme (WFP)
  wishes to stress that, contrary to what has been reported in some media,
  there has been no looting of its food stocks in the Haitian capital. 
  Though the WFP warehouses in Port-au-Prince have been damaged by the
  earthquake, the food stocks have remained intact.
   

• WFP has food and staff deployed in Haiti as
  part of its long-running operations in the country, and it began food
  distributions with 24 hours of the earthquake. The programme plans to
  reach 2 million people during its emergency operation.
   

• WFP is appealing to donors for 14 million
  humanitarian daily rations, or ready-to-eat meals that will be used
  while many of the beneficiaries have no access to their own cooking
  facilities.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL DRAWS ATTENTION TO PLIGHT OF
HAITIANS AT YALE COLLOQUIUM

• On Thursday in New Haven, Connecticut, the
  Secretary-General addressed the Global Colloquium of University
  Presidents on New Technologies for Meeting Global Challenges, which was
  held at Yale University.
   

• In his
  
  remarks, the Secretary-General paid tribute to the victims of the
  earthquake in Haiti and called for greater and immediate international
  assistance to the Haitian people. He underscored how the transfer of
  technology from rich to poor countries and the availability of highly
  trained scientists in countries such as Haiti could help avert both
  natural and man-made disasters.
   

• While at Yale, the Secretary-General also received
  a $5,000 check from the University in support of the UN's Haiti relief
  efforts.

 

U.N. REPRESENTATIVE WELCOMES GOVERNMENT REQUEST
FOR EXTENSION OF MISSION IN NEPAL

• Karin Landgren, the Secretary-General’s
  Representative for Nepal, today told the
  
  Security Council that the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN)
  welcomed the request from the Government of Nepal for its mandate to be
  extended for three months and three weeks. Should the Council decide to
  extend the Mission’s mandate, she said that she hoped for conditions to
  be created for UNMIN to complete its work in that timeframe.
   

• She warned that the clashes and provocations
  that took place late last year underscore the absence of a credible and
  independent national monitoring mechanism to determine whether or not
  the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is being implemented as foreseen.
   

• The Security Council discussed Nepal in an
  open meeting followed by consultations. In its closed consultations, the
  Council also expected to discuss Burundi.

 

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER URGES UGANDA NOT TO
ADOPT BILL ON HOMOSEXUALITY

• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
  Pillay on Friday
  
  urged the Ugandan Government to shelve a “draconian” draft bill on
  homosexuality that is due to be put before the Ugandan parliament later
  in January. She said it would bring the country into a direct collision
  with established international human rights standards aimed at
  preventing discrimination.
   

• Pillay welcomed recent statements by the
  President and other senior members of the Government, suggesting it
  might intervene to stop the private member’s bill from becoming law.
  

 

THE WEEK
AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

16-22
January 2010

 

Monday, January 18

 

The Secretary-General has scheduled a Town Hall meeting
with UN staff on Haiti, to take place in Conference Room 4 of the North Lawn
Building at 10:30 a.m.

 

At 11:30 a.m., the Mission of
Bolivia will hold a press conference on the People's World Conference on
Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights.

 

At noon, David Wimhurst, Communications Director for
the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), will brief the press in
New York by videoconference.

 

Tuesday, January 19

 

The guests at the noon briefing will be Irina Bokova, Director-General of
UNESCO, and Kevin Watkins, Editor of the Education-for-All Global Monitoring
Report 2010. They will launch their flagship report on the state of
education throughout the world.

 

Wednesday, January 20

 

At 10:00 a.m., Rob Vos,
Director, Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), will hold a press conference to launch
the DESA report on the World Economic Situation and Prospects.

 

At 11:00 a.m., the UK Mission will sponsor a press conference to launch a
report by the Human Security Report Project at Simon Fraser University,
Vancouver. The report is entitled "The Shrinking Costs of War".

 

Thursday, January 21

 

The Security Council has scheduled a formal meeting to
consider a resolution on the UN Mission in Nepal. It has also scheduled a
formal meeting, followed by consultations, on the UN Office in Cote
d’Ivoire.

 

Friday, January 22

 

The Security Council has scheduled an open debate on
Kosovo.