United Nations Radio

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

Trash collection in Haiti

It is now imperative that the international community bolster efforts by the Haitian government to remove mountains of rubble and provide adequate shelter and sanitation facilities. The call came from UN humanitarian chief John Holmes in a statement to the UN Security Council in an effort to keep the spotlight on the vast needs in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean country, while rallying global support for the country's long-term recovery. Holmes said the humanitarian community would continue to support the Haitian Government in addressing the most urgent needs and gaps as the longer-term recovery and reconstruction processes gathered pace in parallel.

Haiti's ambassador says coordination of relief efforts is improving

Léo Mérorès (right) with John Holmes

Haiti's Ambassador to the United Nations Léo Mérorès said the humanitarian situation is slowly improving with food and non-food items reaching more and more people everyday.

The deputy UN special envoy in Haiti says the earthquake in Haiti was the most challenging disaster response the UN faced in its entire history;

Deputy special envoy of the UN mission in Haiti Anthony Banbury said it is easier to have a shelter cluster to look after the shelter and the sanitation cluster look after sanitation, but in the Haiti situation it is not possible having these functional divisions is not enough. He said there is a need to solve all the problems simultaneously. But he explained that these problems are very complex so much so that the structures that have been designed and developed by the United Nations over many years based on lots of experience for disaster response could not meet the capacity required for this earthquake response, which e described as very, very difficult and complex.

Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says the roots of slavery lie in ignorance, intolerance and greed;

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."
But according to UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, slavery and slavery-like practices continue in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
In remarks at a Gala honoring the victims of slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the secretary-general said slavery is even re-emerging in new forms, including the sale of children, debt bondage and human trafficking.

Producer: Donn Bobb