UN
Says
Philippines
Should Decide
on Relocation,
Cites Areas
UNreachable by
Media
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 22,
updated -- The
UN has
resisted
criticizing
the
Philippines
government in
responding to
typhoon Haiyan
/ Yolanda.
John Ging of
the UN Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs told
Inner City
Press that
OCHA's
relationship
with the
Philippines is
as good as any
it has.
The
most recent
OCHA Situation
Report as of
November 21
lists as a
"gap
or constraint"
that "no
legislative
decision
has yet been
made on
alternative
re-settlement
or re-location
arrangements,
or on response
to movements
of people."
Inner
City Press on
Friday asked
OCHA chief
Valerie Amos
to explain
this
and one other
gap or
constraint,
regarding
media
coverage.
Amos
explained that
as people fled
Tacloban and
four other
islands, some
went as far as
Manila and do
not want to
return. It is
important to
know as soon
as possible,
she said, what
the policy and
the returns
will be, to
know where to
invest
resources.
The
other gap
Inner City
Press asked
about was that
"most of the
affected areas
in Leyte and
Samar
provinces
remain
unreachable by
media." After
thanking Amos
on behalf of
the new media
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access,
Inner City
Press asked if
there are no
local
media, and
what OCHA
meant by this.
Amos
replied that
media -- size
and
nationality
not specified
-- focused
on Tacloban
but these
other areas
need coverage
as well. She
described
other places
where the
downtown looks
OK, but the
coastal
road is
destroyed.
Both
moderator
Farhan Haq and
Amos herself
said the
briefing was
"Philippines
only," and so
it was.
One
correspondent
wanted
to ask about
Syria but was
rejected.
While for
example Amos
has been
much more
detailed about
visa denial
and delay by
Syria than by
Sudan, still
some are
propagating a
story of Amos
covering up
for
Assad, and
bringing in
the UN's
actual
whitewash in
Sri Lanka.
This
is a
crowd-pleasing
line in some
quarters, and
made Amos'
"Philippines-only"
stance all the
more
noteworthy.
But what
about Southern
Kordofan?
Watch this
site.
Update:
Friday evening
at the UN,
Valerie Amos
walked the
"red carpet"
with DJ David
Guetta, see
Inner City
Press tweeted
photo here.
Still: what
about Southern
Kordofan? Or Haiti
cholera?
, 
