UN / HAITI IOM PRESSER

The head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that escalating violence and funding shortfalls are crippling humanitarian efforts in Haiti, where over one million people are now displaced - triple the number from just a year ago. “It is incredibly difficult to get to the people who are most in need.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:03:12
• Production Date: 16 April 2025
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION - IOM
• Subject Topical: VIOLENCE; HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
• Geographic Subject: HAITI
• MAMS Id: 3361627
• Parent Id: 3361627
• Alternate Title: unifeed250416c

Description

STORY: UN / HAITI IOM PRESSER
TRT: 03:12
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 16 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters

16 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Pope, Director General, IOM:
“Just as the first matter, it is incredibly difficult to get to the people who are most in need. The capital city of Haiti Port-au-Prince is 85 per cent occupied by gangs. It is impossible for people to go in and out of the capital city safely by road, even for humanitarian workers and the diplomats who work in the capital. They have to go into Cap-Haïtien and then take a helicopter. Helicopter doesn't always work regularly and is not able to travel predictably. So even getting humanitarian aid and access to the people who need us is extremely difficult.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Pope, Director General, IOM:
“But the situation has become much, much worse in recent months, there are now a million people who have been displaced. I had the chance to see some of the humanitarian sites. The sites where there are displaced people in the capital, and you just see 1000s of people who are stacked one on top of the other in very, very tight quarters.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Pope, Director General, IOM:
“Like every other UN agency, we are navigating a complex situation, not just of access, but also of financing. Of course, the United States government is and has been, the major funder there. Many of our partners have lost funding altogether, so the NGO international NGOs and local NGOs are simply unable to work at the same scale they had been working before. And of course, they were not able to meet all of the humanitarian needs that existed even before these most recent funding cuts.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Pope, Director General, IOM:
“Interestingly, the IOM office is right on the edge the American Embassy. The IOM office very close to one another, and right on the edge of gang control area. We ourselves have had staff who've been kidnapped, staff who have had to be evacuated, otherwise been significantly impacted by the situation there, including having to be relocated into the country.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Pope, Director General, IOM:
“Unfortunately, we're highly projectized, which means that when the money particular projects is no longer available, we have to stop work. And so that really is what this comes down to, ensuring that we are able to provide support to those who are most in need at a moment in time when resources across the board, and not just for the United States, are dwindling. So, we have made a series of changes within our organization, including by unfortunately, letting quite a lot of staff go, but also by streamlining our headquarters. We moved very, very fast to do that, very fast, to localize staff closer to where our operational capacity is ongoing. And we have made a number of tough decisions to make sure that we're really focused on core IOM activities and leaving to our other UN partners the work that they do best.”
12. Wide shot, end of press briefing

Storyline

The head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that escalating violence and funding shortfalls are crippling humanitarian efforts in Haiti, where over one million people are now displaced - triple the number from just a year ago.

“It is incredibly difficult to get to the people who are most in need,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope at a press briefing in New York today (Apr 16). “The capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, is 85 percent occupied by gangs. It is impossible for people to go in and out of the capital city safely by road, even for humanitarian workers and the diplomats who work in the capital.”

Gang control over vast areas of the capital has forced families to flee repeatedly, leaving many without access to shelter, clean water, or medical care. “I had the chance to see some of the humanitarian sites… and you just see thousands of people who are stacked one on top of the other in very, very tight quarters,” Pope said.

The crisis is compounded by deportations. Nearly 200,000 Haitians were returned from neighboring countries last year, placing additional strain on already overwhelmed services and infrastructure.

“Like every other UN agency, we are navigating a complex situation - not just of access, but also of financing,” Pope noted. “Many of our partners have lost funding altogether… and of course, they were not able to meet all of the humanitarian needs that existed even before these most recent funding cuts.”

Pope said IOM staff have been directly affected by the violence. “We ourselves have had staff who've been kidnapped, staff who have had to be evacuated, [and] otherwise been significantly impacted by the situation,” Pope said.

With resources dwindling, IOM has undertaken internal reforms to sustain critical operations. “We moved very, very fast to localize staff closer to where our operational capacity is ongoing… and we have made a number of tough decisions to make sure that we're really focused on core IOM activities,” concluded Pope.