Americas

UN seeks $17 million to assist Honduran flood victims

30 October 2008
United Nations agencies and their non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners today appealed for more than $17 million to provide food, shelter, health care, water and sanitation over the next six months to some 270,000 people affected by severe floods in Honduras.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay

UN human rights chief welcomes Colombian move to fire army officers

30 October 2008
The United Nations human rights chief today praised Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe for dismissing three army generals and 24 other officers over the alleged illegal killing of civilians in the South American country.

Latin American youth experience widespread discrimination, UN study says

29 October 2008
Over two-thirds of young people in Latin America feel they suffer discrimination, partly because so many are poor and under-educated, according to a report released today by the United Nations office for the region.
Residents evacuate the flooded village of Surgidero de Batabano, some 60 km south of Havana.

Nearly 2 million hurricane-affected Cubans to receive UN food aid

28 October 2008
Almost two million Cubans affected by hurricanes Gustav and Ike – two of the worst disasters to strike the small island nation in the past 50 years – will receive vital assistance from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) over the next six months.
ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena

Latin America and Caribbean exports rise in face of global crisis, reports UN

28 October 2008
Exports from Latin America and the Caribbean are on track to grow at an estimated 23 per cent this year, despite the global financial crisis, according to a report released today by the United Nations office for the region.

Honduras: UN agencies rush to help as floods ravage countryside

28 October 2008
United Nations humanitarian agencies have started mobilizing and distributing aid in Honduras, where floods brought on by a tropical depression have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and destroyed vast areas of cropland.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay

New UN human rights chief in Colombia as indigenous flee violence

27 October 2008
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today begins a week-long review of the situation in Colombia amid concerns that indigenous groups continue to be forced to flee their territories by armed groups.
John Holmes, USG for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator

Appeal for hurricane relief in Haiti badly under-funded, UN aid chief says

27 October 2008
Urgent action is required to respond to the “worst disaster in the last 100 years” to strike Haiti, the United Nations relief chief reported today, warning that aid agencies remain far short of the millions they need to help the country recover after four deadly hurricanes this year left 800 people dead and affected another 1 million.
A family outside their home in Leogane, a town in southern Haiti hit by Hurricane Gustav

Haiti: UN fund to step up support for hurricane survivors

25 October 2008
Survivors of this season's four devastating hurricanes in Haiti will receive a boost from the United Nations fund set up to help in the wake of major disasters, the UN relief chief has announced after visiting the struggling Caribbean country.

UN Headquarters renovation project proceeding on schedule, report says

24 October 2008
The five-year, $1.9 billion renovation designed to make the landmark United Nations Headquarters Complex in New York more modern, safe and sustainable is proceeding on schedule, according to an update on the status of the project released today.