In Haiti, UNDP Paying
$4.47 a Day to Demolish, Few Safeguards on
Right to Return, DR Congo Protests
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, February 4 -- The UN Development Program, with which Bill
Clinton is to coordinator aid to Haiti, bragged Thursday about $2.5
million being given by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Inner
City Press asked UNDP's Jordan Ryan to respond to protests in the DRC
about the grant, when Congolese people are under-served and
unprotected, and asked if UNDP had sought out this contribution.
Ryan
said the
grant shows solidarity, and that UNDP is the "vehicle."
Video here,
from Minute 11:14. He didn't disclose, but should, what
overhead fees UNDP is charging -- as high at 10% in some contexts.
Given how much UNDP has in the bank, might it not waive such fees in
the case of Haiti?
When
UNDP new
Associate Administrator Rebecca Grynspan -- according to African
Ambassador, she took a post that had been promised to Africa, ironic
in light of the happy talk about accepting also a $2.5 million grant
from the DRC -- briefed the Press about UNDP's "cash for work"
in Haiti, she said it would be $5 a day.
Since
then, some
have said $3 a day. Inner City Press asked Ryan, who said it is $4.47
a day, set by the government. Much of the work being done involves
demolishing buildings in Port au Prince.
Inner
City Press
asked, since UNDP is involved in knocking buildings down, what
safeguards will be in place that people can return? Video here,
from Minute 28:45. These questions
were asked about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- why not in
Haiti? Ryan responded with platitudes about recovery plans with,
among others, the World Bank. Great.
UNDP's Jordan Ryan, overhead costs and
rebuilding plans not shown
Meanwhile
at the
IMF, Inner City Press asked about criticism, including by a UN
expert, of the IMF issuing a new loan rather than grant to Haiti. IMF
Spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said that nothing would have to be paid
until 2012. And then? Watch this site.
* * *
UN
Claims No More Tear Gas, Dodging Wyclef Jean, Killings
by Haitian Police
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, February 1 -- Of the UN's use of tear gas in Haiti, the UN
first denied it, then called it routine and regulated. Now, with its quasi
partner Wyclef Jean saying he will speak to Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon about this "unacceptable" practice, the UN is
at once acknowledging past use and saying it won't happen in the
future.
Inner
City Press
at the February 1 noon briefing asked top Haiti envoy Edmond Mulet
and his new adviser Michele Montas about Wyclef Jean's protest of
the UN. Video here,
from Minute 25:51.
Mr. Mulet
answered that in
the "first days" after the earthquake, there were "some
of this incidents."
"All
that has
been taken care of," he said. "That is not happening
anymore." This was tied, as he presented it, not to any swearing
off of pepper spray, but due to what he called the instant success of
the World Food Program's shift to distributing food coupons rather
than food, only to women. He was asked about reports of some
distributions breaking down this very day.
Ban
Ki-moon traveled to Haiti with Wyclef Jean in March 2009, accompanied
by Bill Clinton. What does he think of the UN's use of tear gas?
The
Haitian
National Police, with whom the UN proudly collaborates, are known to
have shot
and killed a number of "scavengers," and even
some others.
Inner City
Press asked Mulet about this. Mulet said the
UN has "heard reports," acknowledged that "maybe
elements of the HNP" shot at "looters." Video here,
from Minute 27:37.
Earlier,
the UN
had urged journalists not to report on "looters."
UN's Ban, Wyclef Jean and Bill Clinton,
earlier - tear gas answers not shown
Now, the
term is deployed in connection with killings by the UN's partner the
Haitian National Police. Meanwhile, there are reports of the HNP
committing summary executions. Where is the UN's Special Rapporteur
on executions, Philip Alston, when you need him? Mulet claimed the UN
is "investigating" cases of killings by the HNP. Inner
City Press was allowed no follow up questions at the briefing, nor
any questions to UNDP's coordinator. Watch this site.
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