In
Haiti, UN Limits Aid to Women, Fires Tear Gas, Dismisses NGOs
and Bilateral Aid
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 25 -- Amid the suffering of the Haitian people, the
UN's accelerating spin of its own centrality in the aid effort was on
display on January 25. In Cite Soleil on January 24, a distribution
of food and radios ended with UN Peacekeepers' deployment of tear gas
and shooting into the air. Inner City Press asked the UN's principal
deputy in Haiti, Tony Banbury, about it. Video here,
from Minute
27:34.
Banbury
said he was
aware of the incident, that "distribution [had] not gone
according to plan." But then the UN's director of communication
in Haiti David Wimhurst passed Banbury a note and cut in. He said he
had been there and that the distribution "went extremely well."
He
clarified that
at the end, when they had run out of food to distribute, people "got
upset." But when Inner City Press asked him about the AFP
reported tear gas, shooting in the air and leaving piles of radio
behind for people to fight over, Wimhurst said he hadn't seen any of
it. Video here,
from Minute 29:50.
Previously,
Wimhurst chided the Press for reporting on Haitian dissatisfaction
with and protest of snafus in aid distribution. It's one thing to
advocate for the media to cover your organization differently, quiet
another to describe a distribution that ends in tear gas as having
"gone well."
Later
on Monday,
Inner City Press asked World Food Program director Josette Sheeran
dissatisfaction, including by the government of Thailand at the cost
WFP would charge to transport rice it wants to donate to Haiti. Ms.
Sheeran said that because of violence at food distributions, a way
had to be found to be sure to reach women.
Inner
City Press
asked, do you do distributions by gender? Ms. Sheeran said yes. In
fact, the distributions are limited to women. She was asked, what
about households headed by men, including where the mother died in
the earthquake. We'll deal with that later, Ms. Sheeran in essence
said. Video here.
She
impliedly
chided, while appearing to praise, donors like Thailand who go
bilateral, saying they better be sure their donations can be
overloaded and stored. Banbury, who previously competed with Sheeran
for the top WFP post, derided small NGOs who send a single plane with
a few tents but "want a seat at the table." Video here,
from Minute 32:28. Oh, civil society.
UN and soldiers in Cite Soleil, before tear gas and
firing in air
Inner
City Press
had asked Banbury to compare the reaction of government in Haiti and
in Myanmar, where he worked on Cyclone Nargis while at WFP.
Banbury
sidestepped Nargis, in which the UN system allowed the Than Shwe
military government to siphon off up to 25% of aid in forced foreign
exchange transactions, and focused rather on the UN's response to the
tsunami, in Ache and Sri Lanka. Of the latter, he neglected to
mention the widespread diversion of aid by the Rajapaksa government,
which later used resources to bomb Tamil civilians in the north.
Monday's
noon
briefing ended with Inner City Press asking UN Spokesman Martin
Nesirky two simple questions about Haiti, the first about a Canadian
helicopter owner who shipped two copters to a UN base in the
Dominican Republic, where he says they have laid unused for a week.
Nesirky said he would look into it, but told Inner City Press it
could have asked Banbury, but chose to ask another questions.
Inner
City Press
asked, since the UN was paying $94,000 a month rent for the Hotel
Christopher which collapsed (and seemingly was not MOSS compliant),
is the UN still paying rent? You could have asked that earlier,
Nesirky said. "Let's see." Video here,
from Minute 56:25.
Footnote:
Ms. Sheeran of WFP and her spokeswoman demonstrated and then gave out
a so called high energy biscuit, which Ms. Sheeran said came from El
Salvador. The label says Ecuador. We will have more on the this.
* * *
On
Haiti at UN, Dominican Dodging on Immigration, UNICEF on
Staffing, IFAD to Forgive?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 22 -- The UN in New York was full of Haiti news on
Friday, some of it misleading, other "off the record." At
the day's noon briefing, by video hook up from Haiti Carlos Morales
Troncoso, Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic, bragged to the
Press about his government's help to Haiti.
Inner City Press asked
about the blocking
of sick Haitians, including infants, at the
Dominican border. I haven't seen that report,
Morales Troncoso
replied. Video here,
from Minute 25:57.
Later
on Friday
there was a briefing by UNICEF about Haiti, but it remained unclear
what information could be used by the press. UNICEF spokesman Chris
De Bono introduced an official who could not, it seemed, be named.
Inner
City Press asked de Bono on the record why UNICEF had not been
able to lead the water and sanitation cluster after the earthquake.
De
Bono replied
that UNICEF had only ten international staff in country on the day of
the earthquake, but was able to take over the WASH cluster by "day
two."
Inner City
Press asked how many staff UNICEF has there
now. De Bono said he didn't know, to email him for the answer. Inner
City Press did, but as of 10 p.m., with a fundraiser on network
television benefiting UNICEF among others, no response had been
provided on how many staff UNICEF has in Haiti.
Rubble of UN's Christopher Hotel - was it MOSS compliant?
Appearing
with
Ban Ki-moon on January 21, Bill Clinton was asked to which charities
people should give. Only those with big presences in Haiti, Bill
Clinton replied. So it would seem UNICEF should be able to say how
many staff it had and has in Haiti. Inner City Press has also asked
UNICEF about its operations in Sri Lanka and Somalia.
Finally,
a day
after Inner City Press asked a question about the UN
International
Fund for Agricultural Development and its outstanding loans to Haiti,
would the loans be forgiven? On January 22, spokesman Martin
Nesirky
said
"you
asked a question, Matthew, yesterday, about the debt repayments by
Haiti. The Secretary-General, of course, welcomes any efforts to
ease financial burdens placed on Haitians. As for the International
Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, it says it has supported,
and is supporting, rural and agricultural development in Haiti
through seven loans, for a total amount of $90 million on highly
concessional terms. Six of these loans are now completed and closed.
And they’re covered by the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries relief
initiative, and consequently, the debt repayments are covered by debt
relief. There is one loan not covered by that initiative, and
repayments for this loan will not start before 2018. The Fund is now
reviewing its approach towards these repayments with a view to call
on its Member States to assist in directly supporting Haiti with
further relief."
We'll
see. Inner City Press
also asked,
but Mr. Nesirky did not answer, about the material
assistance the UN provides to bereaved families of international and
national staff members:
Inner
City Press:
Can you either state now, or at the next briefing or in between, what
material assistance is being provided to the families of those UN
staff, both international and national, who perished in Haiti? And
whether the benefits are the same, the material assistance? How, you
know, between these two groups. And just what the number…? I’ve
heard that [it’s] Schedule D of the benefits package, but I’d
like to know what it is.
Spokesperson
Nesirky: I’m sure you would. And I’m sure that more than you,
the family members would like to know. And that is being worked on
very intensively, and it’s something that occupies the mind of many
people, not least the Secretary-General.
Inner
City Press: But isn’t there a standard, I mean, isn’t there a UN
policy? What I’m asking for is the policy, not actually what,
what… You see what I mean?
Spokesperson:
Yes, I do understand. This has to do with insurance and other
matters, and that’s being looked into very closely by the right
people in Field Support, in the Department of Management, Department
of Human Resources Management.
Inner
City Press:
Sure. When a decision is made, you’ll…?
Spokesperson:
The question of payments of whatever kind to family members or those
who were injured is really a matter for them, between the United
Nations and them. The principle that you refer to, of course, is
something that we would want to make public.
Inner
City Press: Isn’t it a public…? I mean, it’s a public organization.
Spokesperson:
That’s what I’m saying. The principle is very clear. It’s a
matter of public interest, you’re absolutely right. And on the
principle, we will make it clear what’s going on. But, the details
are something for the family members.
Watch this site.
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