The project “Everybody against cholera”, carried by two young people studying in ESSEC Cameroon made it to the final and then won it, on 13th April, 2012. This was the fourth time the Red Helmets Foundation, whose President is former minister Nicole Guedj, has organized this event. The competition was opened to every French-speaking student, and was sponsored by Orange. Read more
Topic: Since this morning, Facebook is part of the 52 official partners of the French Amber Alert, so called "Alerte Enlèvement". First time in Europe !Read more
Subject: René Préval, President of Haiti, has put forward the project of the creation of Red Helmets at the UN to the U.S. President, Barack Obama*, following the proposition of Nicole Guedj,former French minister and chairman of the Red Helmets Foundation,
A few days after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, Nicole Guedj visited Port-au-Prince and presented her project of an international humanitarian force of rapid reaction under the auspices of the UN to Rene Préval. The President of Haiti, which has been both witness of the unprecedented international mobilisation but also of the rescue disorganisation, has joined the Red Helmets battle and launched an appeal directly from Port-au-Prince: ‘It is upstream that the help must be organized and I support firmly the proposition of the former French Minister Mrs. Nicole Guedj, to create, following the example of the Blue Helmets who intervene to preserve peace, an international unit under the auspices of the UN, the Red Helmets. This unit would include all the willing countries, so that upstream, this help would be coordinated and would arrive with efficiency the first day and not later.’
During his visit to Washington, Rene Préval reiterated his support to the creation of Red Helmets in front of Barack Obama. Having confirmed his support to Haiti, the U.S. President said that‘No nation could respond to such a catastrophe alone’**.
According to Nicole Guedj: ‘If the Americans have coordinated the rescue teams in Haiti, in the future, all nations must pool their efforts together and unit under a single banner, that of the Red Helmets of the UN.’
Ban Ki Moon, UN’s General Secretary, on his second trip to Haiti last Sunday, was also informed about the Red Helmets proposition***.
A month ago, John Holmes, the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Humanitarian Affairs, had already denounced the failures of the UN system in terms of organization and coordination of the rescue teams.
Next meeting: The Conference on the Reconstruction of Haiti, which will take place on March 31st in New York.*
* Speech by U.S. President Barack Obama and Haitian President Rene Preval, March 10, 2010, at the White House:
