A month after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, René Préval, President of Haiti and Nicole Guedj, former French Minister and Chairman of the Red Helmets Foundation, call upon the international community to create a humanitarian force of Red Helmets at the UN.
In the following newspapers, Le Monde (France), Forbes (United States), The Guardian (United Kingdom), El Pais (Spain), Le Devoir (Canada), Le Soir (Belgium), Excelsior (Mexico), La Republica (Italy), Afrika (Africa), René Préval and Nicole Guedj call upon the international community to create a humanitarian force of Red Helmets at the UN.
Call for Red Helmets at the UN
By René Préval, President of the Republic of Haiti and Nicole Guedj, former French Minister and Chairman of the Red Helmets Foundation.
For over a month, Haiti has been immersed in a climate of chaos and desolation. The first estimations reported over 200 000 dead and 300 000 wounded. Hundreds of thousands of survivors have settled in improvised camps that may permanently be part of the island’s landscape. And yet, we have to be grateful for the solidarity of the international community that came in help to Haiti just a few hours after the disaster. Hundreds of rescue teams were dispatched on the territory. 74 aircrafts landed in Haiti during the first 24 hours. As a result, the airport of the capital was immediately saturated and NGOs remained blocked for days on the tarmac, while survivors were still perishing under the rubbles.
Haiti did indeed not seem ready for this exceptional manifestation of good will. Americans, Europeans, Chinese... have shown unprecedented generosity. Aircraft carriers, field hospitals, food supplies, tents, helicopters ... were transported across the planet. However, by lack of organization and coordination, we lost time and too many lives.
What we would have needed in this state of emergency was a humanitarian high command that would have identified the needs and made an inventory of available resources. What could have changed this situation is a force of rapid reaction that would have elaborated a strategy for action and coordinated the actions of operational teams.
Haiti has been the disaster too many, and it did not take long for us to realize that we have learnt no lessons from the tsunami. The humanitarian community is not strong enough to face alone the challenges imposed by nature's wrath. We do not need additional actors: NGOs and intergovernmental agencies are already doing a significant work. Let alone a new philosophy. There's only one worth following: saving lives.
The humanitarian world needs preparation, supervision, coordination, regulation, structure ... It needs a ‘humanitarian intelligence’ to anticipate and unify its action. We are perfectly capable of inventing a humanitarian action effective and sustainable, a humanitarian action that could optimize the means allocated and overcome the waste.
At Port-au-Prince, scene of the greatest humanitarian disruption in recent years, we have proposed a solution, the creation of Red Helmets. Those humanitarian brothers of the Blue Helmets, would, under the auspices of the UN, have the legitimacy to fulfil this mission.
Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, opened the way by appointing Bill Clinton coordinator of international aid in Haiti. Alas, this decision came three weeks after the earthquake. Nevertheless, we can be assured that this effort of coordination and commitment is to facilitate the reconstruction operations.
The United Nations must assume its ‘responsibility to protect’ and guarantee the right to assistance to all populations in the world. We cannot act surprised when we realize that the Blue Helmets are unable to organize food distributions. They are forces of peace, not rescuers. Militaries not relief teams! The UN must have a 100% humanitarian force to organize and coordinate aid. We do not aim at raising an army neither do we wish to replace NGOs.
Rather to convene a panel of experts composed of logisticians, doctors, engineers, and fire fighters... able to define a comprehensive strategy to manage a crisis and regulate aid proposed by the international community, on day 1 and not a day later!
We appeal to the duty of all heads of states to unite and find a consensus. It is through solidarity that they must ensure that history is not repeated. Not a place on the planet is safe from a future disaster. The very same question of relief coordination will continue arising until we take the necessary decisions. Next time, they will not forgive us.
On the eve of the international conference for the reconstruction of Haiti, we are hopeful that Red Helmets will be created at the UN.
