In an undated memo sent to Hillary Clinton following the earthquake that shook Haiti in 2010, Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, recalled being “profoundly disturbed” by the United Nations’ response to the devastated Third World country.
A seven-page summary of Chelsea’s trip to Haiti sent to “Mom” and “Dad” was included in the State Department’s latest batch of emails from Clinton’s time as secretary of state. In addition to warning Clinton of mismanagement and disorganization that could have led to “tens of thousands of children’s deaths by diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and other water-related diseases,” Chelsea said the international response to the situation demonstrated “mind-numbing” incompetence.
“To say I was profoundly disturbed by what I saw–and didn’t see–would be an understatement,” Chelsea wrote to her mother.
“The UN people I encountered were frequently out of touch (e.g., would not have been off Logbase in days — or ever), anachronistic in their thinking at best and arrogant and incompetent at worst,” she continued.
According to Chelsea, one employee of the UN Development Programme allegedly said that “she was waiting for the Haitians to ‘demand their political rights'” while they were “asking for tents, latrines, soap, [and] food.”
In her detailed memo, Chelsea described efforts by the U.N. and International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to help the displaced people as varying widely in effectiveness.
“The Haitian government’s inability to articulate its plan quickly enough or in sufficient terms to the UN/INGO community has lead to a proliferation of ad hoc efforts by the UN and INGOs … some of which have helped, some of which have hurt, and some which have not happened at all,” she wrote.
“Again, the UN seemed at best chaotic and at worst absent as I travelled around in an action-oriented sense,” she added. “There appears to be NO accessible and usable UN inventory system or logistics operation.”
Chelsea also noted that “in contrast to the UN, there appears to be respect for the US Military on the ground.” She mentioned that several walls in Haiti were covered with anti-U.N. graffiti, but did not see any anti-U.S. graffiti “downtown.”
According to the Clinton Foundation, led by Chelsea and her parents, the charitable organization has raised more than $30 million for Haiti since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010. Former President Bill Clinton was appointed UN Special Envoy for Haiti by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2009.
