TFHA01: HAITI: INT'L COORDINATION AND REGISTRATION OF

UNCLAS STATE 004909 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (SUBJECT LINE) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF EAID PHUM UN SUBJECT: TFHA01: HAITI: INT'L COORDINATION AND REGISTRATION OF DONATIONS VIA UN FLASH APPEAL ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 4. ¶2. (U) The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has the responsibility to mobilize and coordinate humanitarian action in disasters and emergencies. In the days following the earthquake in Haiti, they have been flooded with donations and pledges from around the world, coming from both governments and the private sector. In the wake of the release of the UN Flash Appeal for Haiti(available at http://ochaonline.un.org/humanitarianappeal/w ebpage .asp?Page=1841),the volume of calls and messages will only increase. ¶3. (U) One way to support OCHA is to encourage potential government and major private sector donors to use OCHA's Financial Tracking System (FTS),at http://ocha.unog.ch/fts to register their donations. FTS is a global, real-time database that records all reported international humanitarian aid. This will better enable OCHA to coordinate and allocate the distribution of assistance. ¶4. (U) Drawing from points below, posts are requested to approach the host government at the appropriate level to urge them to use FTS to register their donations. Begin points: - In the wake of Haiti's tragic earthquake, the international community has responded with extraordinary generosity, and there has been a tremendous outpouring of offers of assistance from governments, businesses, and individuals worldwide. As President Obama has said to the Haitian people, "we are with you, and the world is with you." As of Monday January 18, the UN Secretariat indicated they were still far from meeting all the urgent needs indicated in the Flash Appeal for Haiti, so your continued generosity is urgently needed. - The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is responsible for tracking and coordinating international donor assistance. The logistical challenges facing humanitarian actors on the ground in Haiti mean that properly coordinating assistance is crucial to the mission of saving lives and delivering relief to the Haitian people. - For this reason, we join the UN in urging government and major institutional private sector donors to use OCHA's Financial Tracking System (FTS) to register their donations. FTS is a global, real-time database that records all reported international humanitarian aid. Use of this system will allow OCHA to better coordinate the arrival and reception of assistance. The FTS can be accessed online at http://ocha.unog.ch/fts. - Due to logistical constraints in Haiti, the United Nations is urging potential donors to give in cash rather than in-kind. At the moment, there is limited capacity for aircraft landing, unloading, warehousing and distribution of goods. - While individual private contributors can also access the FTS, we ask that they work through whatever national organization host government has designated (e.g. Red Cross in the U.S) to avoid system overload. ¶5. Minimize considered. CLINTON