Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / HOLMES
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / HOLMES
SOURCE: UNTV / WFP / UNICEF / MINUSTAH / MOUSCO
TRT: 3:39
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
RECENT – UNTV - UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters
FILE – WFP - 5 AUGUST 2010, KALAM VALLEY, PAKISTAN
2. Med shot, soldier sitting in an open helicopter
3. Various shots, bags of aid inside helicopter
4. Various shots, aerial view from the helicopter
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
5. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“So we are running to play catch up the whole time with a crisis which is enormous in scale in numbers, affected in geographical scope. People are talking about one fifth of the country under water.”
FILE – WFP - 15 AUGUST 2010, FATEHPUR, PAKISTAN
6. Various shots, people and goods crossing river by cable pulley system
bridge cut by flooding
FILE – WFP - 14 AUGUST 2010, MUZZAFARGAHR, PUNJAB PAKISTAN
7. Various shots, WFP distribution of fortified wheat flour, cooking oil and high energy biscuits to people affected by flooding
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
8. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“We are trying to make sure that the cash we are getting now has to be turned into supplies for people and then transport and logistics to get to the people who need it. This is a massive task and I don’t want to underestimate or minimise for anybody watching how big of a challenge it is.”
FILE – UNICEF - JULY 2010, ZINDER PROVINCE, NIGER
9. Various shots, malnourished children
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
10. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“I don’t think that the response has been perfect, they never are but I hope we have done enough to avert the worst, done enough to avert that crisis turning into a catastrophe with many, many deaths particularly of children.”
FILE - MINUSTAH - 22 JULY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
11. Various shots, internally displaced in makeshift camps
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
12. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“It is very frustrating that we have not got very far yet even now with seven to eight months on the process of creating communities outside the centre and with creating transitional shelters for people because we want to have 125,000 of those four million people and we are still a long way short of that.”
FILE – MONUSCO - 12 AUGUST 2010, NYANZALE, DR CONGO
13. Various shots, IDP camp
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
14. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“If at some point in the future, as it is likely, they start to withdraw or withdraw altogether, that will leave the humanitarian community in a particularly difficult situation particularly in the more insecure areas in the northeast where the Lord’s Resistance Army is waging an appalling campaign of attacks and bloodshed once again and without MONUSCO there its very difficult for us to be there.”
FILE – WFP - 5 AUGUST 2010, KALAM VALLEY, PAKISTAN
15. Various shots, aid delivery
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
16. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“In some places, not everywhere, some places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, aid workers are being targeted deliberately. They are somehow perceived quite wrongly as being part of someone else’s political or military or security agenda.”
FILE – WFP - 30 JUNE 2009, BUALE DISTRICT, SOUTHERN SOMALIA
17. Various shots, IDPs collecting aid surrounded by armed guards
UNTV - 20 AUGUST 2010, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
18. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“Somehow we have to get the message across to people to leave us alone, let us do our job and please for heaven’s sake stop targeting us and killing us all and kidnapping us because the only people who suffer, of course the humanitarian workers themselves suffer, but the main victims are the people we are trying to help.”
FILE – WFP - 30 JUNE 2009, BUALE DISTRICT, SOUTHERN SOMALIA
19. Various shots, IDPs collecting aid
A day after the international community upped the pledges urgently needed to finance the ongoing relief efforts in Pakistan, the United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator said the humanitarian community is “running to play catch up” with the unfolding crisis in the country.
John Holmes, who called the crisis “enormous” in scale and scope, said that “about one fifth of the country” is suspected to be underwater. The Pakistani Government estimates that 15.4 million people, about nine percent of the country’s population, are affected by the floods, with at least six million in need of emergency assistance.
Yesterday (19 August), UN Member States voiced their solidarity with Pakistan, as they adopted a resolution calling for international assistance in support of the Government’s efforts to address the crisis. The meeting saw a boost in pledges increasing the pledged amount to more than $200 million.
Prior to the meeting, the UN and its partners had received only about half of the $460 million funds requested to implement emergency relief activities in Pakistan. There were reports saying that the pledging had been far less than in other recent disasters, mostly blaming donor fatigue.
Holmes said that given the enormity of the situation, carrying out relief efforts “is a massive task.”
“I don’t want to underestimate or minimize for anybody watching how big of a challenge it is,” he added.
Turning to Niger, another humanitarian crisis in which half of the country’s population is suffering from moderate or severe food insecurity caused by droughts, Holmes said that although the humanitarian response has not been perfect, the humanitarian community has done “enough to avert the worst, done enough to avert that crisis turning into a catastrophe with many, many deaths particularly of children.”
According to UNICEF, across Niger, an estimated 378,000 children ranging from six months to five years of age are expected to be treated for severe acute malnutrition over the next 12 months.
Holmes, who has been the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator since early 2007, had witnessed the devastating impact of many humanitarian crises be it manmade or natural. One of his recent visits was to Haiti six months after the earthquake in January.
On concerns about the international community not doing enough to relocate people into more secure permanent homes before the peak of the hurricane season, he expressed frustration that the international community is “still a long way short of” creating transitional shelters for a million people.
Earlier this year, during his trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Holmes showed concern about the safety of civilians and the humanitarian community in the eastern province as the drawdown of UN peacekeepers began in the country.
He added that the drawdown “will leave the humanitarian community in a particularly difficult situation” especially in the northeast “where the Lord’s Resistance Army is waging an appalling campaign of attacks and bloodshed once again.”
More recently, three peacekeepers from the UN mission in the country (MONUSCO) were killed after their base, in the volatile North Kivu province, was attacked by up to 60 unidentified men armed with machetes and spears.
UN personal, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers often find themselves risking their lives on the frontlines of conflicts. During the commemoration of World Humanitarian Day on Thursday, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 2008 and 2009 were the two deadliest years yet for humanitarian staff with more than 100 killed each year.
Holmes added that in places like “Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, aid workers are being targeted deliberately” as they are “somehow perceived quite wrongly as being part of someone else’s political or military or security agenda.”
Holmes felt that it is important to highlight the fact that aid workers are only there to help people and do not have any agenda. “Leave us alone, let us do our job and please for heaven’s sake stop targeting us and killing us all and kidnapping us because the only people who suffer, of course the humanitarian workers themselves suffer, but the main victims are the people we are trying to help,” he concluded.
