AlertNet
This blog was written by one or more members of the AlertNet team.
YOUR TURN TO ASK: Karel De Gucht, EU humanitarian chief
Earthquakes, floods, the global recession and recurrent famines have been keeping aid professionals across the world as busy as ever. Such crises hit poor countries the hardest, focusing increasing attention on preventing and preparing for disasters rather than dealing with their devastating aftermath. Development will be at the core of debates among heads of states, top European Union officials, Nobel Prize winners and other experts at an international conference in Stockholm between Oct. 22 and Oct. 24, called European Development Days. ...
Photographer's view: How the earthquake in Sumatra affected me
This blog was written by Reuters photographer Dylan Martinez. It was first published on the Reuters "Photographers' Blog" Write a personal blog on an earthquake where thousands have been killed. Spot the contradiction there... but here goes - how the earthquake in Sumatra affected me. ...
YOUR TURN TO ASK: Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian chief for Somalia
Somalia's seemingly endless crises in the past two decades - anarchy, warlords, refugees, chronic poverty, hunger, piracy, proxy wars and now rising Islamic extremism - seem to have made the world grow numb to its plight. But the Horn of Africa country is now suffering one of the most desparate humanitarian crises in the world. Its worst drought in nearly 20 years has compounded the effects of rising violence and driven half the population, or 3.5 million people, into food aid dependence. ...
YOUR TURN TO ASK: Send us your questions for UNICEF chief Ann Veneman
Ann Veneman, Executive Director of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), is visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo where she is meeting victims of sexual violence and children who were kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army guerrilla group but managed to escape. UNICEF's top official oversees annual resources of more than $3 billion, funded entirely from voluntary contributions. Since becoming executive director, she has travelled to more than 60 countries to witness the plight of children affected by natural disasters, conflict, disease and exploitation. Before joining UNICEF in 2005, Veneman headed the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ...
Norwegian memo sparks PR crisis for UN's Ban Ki-moon
*This blog by Louis Charbonneau was first published on the Reuters Global News Blog Ban Ki-moon isn't having a good year for public relations. Halfway through a five-year term as U.N. secretary-general, he's been hit with a wave of negative assessments by the Financial Times, The Economist, , Foreign Policy and other media organisations. In a March 2009 editorial entitled "Whereabouts Unknown", the Times said Ban was "virtually inaudible" on pressing issues of international security and "ineffectual" on climate change, the one issue that Ban claims he has made the biggest difference on. The Economist gave him a mixed report card, assigning him two out of 10 points for his management skills while praising him on climate change (eight out of 10 points). This week, Norway's Aftenposten newspaper made an unpleasant situation much worse. It published a confidential memo assessing Ban's 2-1/2 years in office from Oslo's deputy U.N. ambassador, Mona Juul, to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. ...
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