UN MISSION TRAVELS TO NORTHERN HAITI TO ASSESS HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

UN MISSION TRAVELS TO NORTHERN HAITI TO ASSESS HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

NEW YORK, 19 February (OCHA) -- Today, a 10-member United Nations inter-agency assessment mission in Haiti is travelling by air to the north-western town of Port-de-Paix and the north-eastern town of Cap Haïtien, where they will assess the humanitarian situation.  With unrest spreading in the north and central parts of the country, access to some areas has largely been blocked.  However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and CARE have managed to reach the city of Gonaives with emergency supplies.

The United Nations inter-agency mission deployed on 8 February to the country originally intended to revise and update the contingency plan for Haiti.  Given the developing crisis, the mission, together with the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the country team, has now established an inter-agency task force to help coordinate the work of United Nations agencies and their partners.  The mission has met with all United Nations agencies and many non-governmental organizations in order to more effectively collect and analyse information, to work on access and to ensure preparedness.

The current crisis is seriously disrupting everyday life for many Haitians.  Several hospitals have been the target of protestors and staff have voiced concern for their own safety.  The university hospital of Port-au-Prince has not been functioning for several weeks.  Most of the hospitals currently still operable are private institutions and severely over-stretched in their capacity to provide essential medical services.  In any case, the most vulnerable cannot afford their services.  A first evaluation has revealed specific needs in water supply, essential drugs, blood banks, and refrigeration.  A crisis committee has been created under the leadership of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to evaluate the state of hospitals throughout the country.

Mounting insecurity is jeopardizing food security and domestic harvests.  Transportation and distribution problems will also affect food supply nationwide.  Some cities are already reportedly confronting food shortages and significant price increases of essential commodities.  During the month of February, the World Food Programme (WFP) needs to deliver 1,400 metric tonnes of cereals to its warehouses in Cap Haïtien (north) and Bombardopolis (north-west), to assist 268,000 people in the north and north-west parts of the country.

The education sector has been severely affected, with schools open only intermittently and reported widespread desertion of staff.  Universities have been closed since 5 December 2003.

While some people have been fleeing their homes, there has been no significant refugee outflow yet.  However, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed for neighbouring countries to keep borders open and is undertaking a joint contingency planning mission and planning is being updated in view of the current situation.  A UNHCR Emergency Coordinator has been assigned for the region and has already begun to travel to Caribbean States.  The Coordinator would head up an emergency response team in the event a refugee crisis materializes in the region.  In the past, Haitians have turned up in neighbouring States and islands, including the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Cuba, Turks and Caicos, and the United States.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, with half its 8.5 million people malnourished and illiterate.  In April 2003, the United Nations and its partners launched an appeal for Haiti for $84 million to respond to urgent humanitarian needs caused by the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel.: 917 367 5126, mobile: 917 892 1679; or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel.: 41 22 917 2653, mobile: 41(0) 79 473 4570.

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