A Fox News report of April 8 notes that the UN is housing relief workers sent to Haiti to offer services following the nation’s devastating 7.0 earthquake on January 12 aboard two chartered luxury cruise ships. One of the ships has been dubbed the "Love Boat" by UN staff members.
The United Nations World Food Program announced on its website on March 19 that two UN-chartered passenger cruise ships, the Ola Esmeralda and the Sea Voyager, had docked in Port au Prince harbor.
But Fox noted that the website announcement did not disclose that the vessels were not intended to house homeless Haitian refugees, but would instead accommodate employees of the U.N. itself. The UN website also did not reveal that the cost of leasing the ships was $112,500 a day and that one of the vessels is owned by a company closely linked to the government of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
Yet another thing the the WFP failed to mention: Even U.N. staffers regularly refer to one of the ships as "the Love Boat" — an illusion to the old TV series about a cruise ship on which single passengers booked passage to look for romance.
When a Fox News reporter questioned Edmond Mulet, head of the Haiti peacekeeping contingent, about the organization’s judgement in housing so many U.N. relief workers in such luxurious surroundings while most residents of Port au Price are homeless, the official justified the decision as follows: “You have to be in good shape in order to help the Haitians.”
"It is the least we could do for them," said Mulet. "They are working 14, 16 hours a day. The place was pulverized. Living conditions are really appalling."
Fox News did some excellent research in determining that the registered owner of one of the two ships the WFP chartered, the Ola Esmeralda, is a Venezuelan company, Servicios Acuaticos de Venezuela, C.A., or Saveca. And Saveca, as stated on the company’s own website, is part of an "alliance," with Dianca, a Venezuelan shipyard, that is owned by the government of the Marxist Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
The entire Fox report, “With Haiti in Ruins, Some U.N. Relief Workers Live Large on 'Love Boat,’” which has links to the researcher’s sources, makes for interesting reading.
“The worst-kept secret in Haiti: the UN's cruise ship hotel,” another online article about the UN-charter cruise ships posted on April 7 by Terra Daily’s staff writers, referred to a small office located in the UN’s logistics base in Port au Prince, where UN staff can sign up to stay on the Sea Voyager for a “heavily subsidized” rate of 40 dollars a night, including breakfast and dinner.
"It's the best deal in town," the report quoted a UN worker who told AFP on condition of anonymity, who said the usual rate should be around 150 dollars.
A UN coordinator who moved to the Sea Voyager after her house was destroyed by the earthquake told AFP she was happy because she had stopped working endless hours and sleeping in her office and that:
"Obviously some people are complaining because it is a long way away, 40 minutes by bus, but it's great, how can we complain, we have air-con, we have food, the mosquitos are under control.”
The report quoted Richard Morse, the owner of Port-au-Prince's Hotel Oloffson, who gave the following opinioin:
"If the UN is living on a cruise ship, it is the perfect metaphor for how they are viewed here in the country. If they think quake refugees should be living on cruise ships, then they should get cruise ships for the Haitian people, that's all I'm saying. Unless of course I am misinterpreting this and they really are better than Haitians."
Sarah Muscroft, the deputy head of mission for the UN's Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), offered the official reason that the ships were being used to house UN staff — because member states insisted on safe housing for staff.
"That is the reason why there is a boat here because the member states have basically said you have to have our nationals who work for you in non-prefab buildings," she said.
The story is not so surprising, considering that the UN and its agencies have become well-funded bureaucracies and have become subject to the excesses characteristic of all such bureaucracies. One could imagine the uproar if members of Christian relief agencies wallowed in luxury while the poor peasants were housed in tents and packing crates.
But the greatest danger presented by the UN is not that it’s staff members may prefer to stay on “The Love Boat,” instead of a shanty in Port au Prince. It is that the world body’s members states (including the United States) have consistently surrendered more and more of their national sovereignty to the UN, including control of their own national defense.
The process can only be reversed by the world’s nations withdrawing from the UN. The impoverished refugees of the world could be better served by private and church-based relief agencies.
Warren Mass is editor of the Bulletin of The John Birch Society.
what a shame - instead they could have purchased prefabricated houses for the Haitians whom are now about to face the rain season. UN is just corrupt - they only care about their salaries and how to make money out the misery of others
ReplyDeleteget the money to haitian people they know better..stop the UN bullsh*t.
ReplyDeletewhen would anyone have the balls to ask the U.N. to open its books so all of us can actually understand what do these bunch of bureaucrats do with billions of our tax dollars every year.
ReplyDeleteall can endin one single day - if Obama Administration decides to take away the IMMUNITY TO THE UNITED NATIONS, these corruption will end because they feel untouchable right now and can do anything...no court or law enforcement can investigate these people right now that's why they behave the way they are !
ReplyDeletehow can we accept that americans who work for Church or Humanitarian NGOs are paid 100 time less than the United Nations, despite that our guys do much much more than them?
ReplyDeleteits outrageous to have luxury boats in front of poor people who have nothing to eat and barely can survive . while these "humanitarians" are having beers and parties at night. No one cares if they are tired or not - if you go to Haiti you don't go for fun, you go there to help and assist people living in those conditions. If you can't bear it - than don't stay - why should we accept that Millions of our Dollars are sinked into luxury boats for "only few humanitarian workers".
ReplyDeleteSTOP SENDING MONEY TO UNITED NATIONS NOW !! SEND MONEY ONLY TO AMERICAN OR HAITIAN ORGANIZATIONS !
i totally agree US should withdraw from the UN, and all of us should support the poor around the world thru private and church-based relief agencies.
ReplyDeleteUN should get out of Haiti NOW !!! all those billions that would go for their salaries should go directly to :
ReplyDelete1. forgive the debts to Haiti;
2. build a financial infrastructure in the country;
3. provide small loans to businesses, farmers, and families so they can restart their lives.
Forget about the UN, if they stay in Haiti they will need another 20 yeras to get out of there. They are there for their own salaries and perks while the Haitians suffer.