UN official says aid for Haiti falling short
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| Published on Thursday, July 3, 2008 |
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By Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters): Aid for Haiti is falling short as the Caribbean country is buffeted by urgent needs to help feed its poor while developing domestic food production and jobs, a UN official said on Tuesday.
"The donor response to the Haitian food crisis was positive, but not sufficient," said Joel Boutroue, the permanent coordinator of the United Nations System in Haiti.
"We need to do more and urgently," he told a news conference.
The UN System is an umbrella group that represents all of the international organizations and conventions that have been created by the world body.
Boutroue said the UN System plans to collect $131 million in funding for near- and mid-term programs to support local food production and the creation of sorely needed new jobs in the poorest country in the Americas.
But he said $55 million in fresh funding had been collected since an appeal was made to international donors last month.
In addition to jobs and food production, the aid for the current calendar year would be earmarked for food assistance programs and the creation of social safety nets to support some of Haiti's most vulnerable people, Boutroue said.
A top official with the World Food Program appealed for $54 million in financing for Haiti in April to offset soaring food prices and provide the Caribbean nation with 50,000 tonnes of food between now and December. But that assistance was separate from the UN System's request for an additional $131 million, officials said.
According to WFP figures, 66 percent of Haitians live on less than $1 a day and 47 percent are undernourished.
At least six Haitians were killed in Haiti in April as protests against rising food prices and the high cost of living turned violent. |
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