United Nations Radio

Dr. Margaret Chan

Caribbean News Round-Up: a weekly 15-minute news magazine on developments at the United Nations concerning the Caribbean.

The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic. That's what the head of the World Health Organization-WHO Dr. Margaret Chan said this week as WHO declared the H1N1 virus a pandemic.
What this means is that the virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Chile.
Dr. Chan says "we are in the earliest days of the pandemic [and] the virus is spreading under a close and careful watch.

Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says the declaration of a pandemic is not cause for alarm

Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is convening a meeting of the Influenza Steering Committee on Monday to map out the immediate next steps. He says Thursday's declaration of the H1N1 virus as a pandemic is just a formal statement about the geographic spread of the disease.

A UN expert says she considers Haiti's 'restavek' system a modern day form of slavery

Gulnara Shahinian

A UN expert on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its causes and consequences, has expressed deep concern over the highly exploitative nature of the 'restavek' system in Haiti, which she considers to be a modern form of slavery. Ms Gulnara Shahinian made her comments at the end of a visit to the country. UN Radio's Dianne Penn reports.

Jamaica hopes Sierra Leone continues on a path that consolidates peace and security

Amb. Raymond Wolfe

Speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, Jamaica said recent events which threatened the tremendous gains made by the country since the end of the civil war in 2002, remind the UN of the fragility of the peace in Sierra Leone. Ambassador Raymond Wolfe said the engagement of the Organization with the country must remain committed and purposeful, if it is to successfully tackle the high levels of youth unemployment, corruption and the threat of drug trafficking which exists in Sierra Leone.

Producer: Donn Bobb