OHCHR / TURK HAITI

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said, “Yet again, I must report on the deeply distressing situation in Haiti.” OHCHR / UNTV CH
Description

STORY: OHCHR / TURK HAITI
TRT: 04:45
SOURCE: OHCHR / UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 OCTOBER 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

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Shotlist

1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais de Nations
2. Wide shot, interior, room 20
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Yet again, I must report on the deeply distressing situation in Haiti. Only last week, in the latest symptomatic horror, gang members entered a neighbourhood of Pont Sondé in the dead of night, setting fire to houses and gunning down residents as they fled. At least 70 people were killed, including three small babies.”
4. Med shot, interior, room 20
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I am convinced that the security crisis, the rule of law crisis, and the governance crisis that Haitians are enduring can be resolved.”
6. Med shot, interior, room 20
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Crucial to that effort must be full implementation of the Security Council's arms embargo to prevent the supply of firearms and ammunition to non-State actors in Haiti, as well as its targeted asset freeze and travel ban. The embargo is mandatory, and it was adopted unanimously – most recently in October 2023. It is due to be renewed on 18 October. I strongly encourage passage of this important set of measures, and I urge all States – including all Security Council Member States – to enforce every aspect in full.”
8. Med shot, interior, room 20
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Gender-based violence, including sexual violence, has reached new peaks of brutality and scale, with my Office documenting collective rapes among other horrors. The number of internally displaced people in the country has risen by 95 percent since March, to 703,000 – almost 6 percent of the population.”
10. Med shot, interior, room 20
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I welcome last week's renewal by the Security Council of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. It is also absolutely crucial to ensure that the MSS mission, led by Kenya, is given adequate resources and support. All security operations – including those conducted jointly by the MSS mission and the Haitian police – need to comply fully with international law, including international human rights law, and they need to be accountable.”
12. Med shot, interior, room 20
13. SOUNDBITE (French) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In a more general sense, it is also essential to strengthen governance and state institutions, particularly the judiciary, the police, and the penitentiary system. Furthermore, it is important to begin addressing the inequalities and poverty that are pervasive in the country."
14. Med shot, interior, room 20
15. SOUNDBITE (French) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
"I commend the new transitional government for including key human rights commitments in its roadmap. Its concrete action plans to combat corruption and other human rights violations include specialized judicial units to help address mass crimes, such as sexual violence, as well as financial crimes. The persistence of corrupt practices, particularly within public institutions, is deeply destabilizing, and urgent action is needed in this regard."
16. Med shot, interior, room 20
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Haiti is a small country of immense importance to our world. In terms of human rights, we can never forget its revolution against slavery and colonial oppression, surely one of the most inspiring chapters in human history.”
18. Med shot, interior, room 20
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“It pains me to see the deportations, mistreatment, and hateful and racist smears that target Haitians in some countries of the region. Haitians have the same rights to live free from violence, fear and misery as every person of every other nationality.”
20. Med shot, interior, room 20
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In a country of less than 28,000 square kilometres – less than 65 percent of the size of Switzerland – addressing the current crisis is not an outsized challenge, in either strategy or cost. On the contrary: each facet of Haiti's current crisis can be addressed and can be resolved.”
22. Wide shot, exterior, Palais de Nations

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Storyline

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said today (8 Oct), “Yet again, I must report on the deeply distressing situation in Haiti.”

Türk said, as he presented his Office’s latest report, “Only last week, in the latest symptomatic horror, gang members entered a neighbourhood of Pont Sondé in the dead of night, setting fire to houses and gunning down residents as they fled. At least 70 people were killed, including three small babies.”

The report details the magnitude of the chaotic violence inflicted on the population between the end of February and the beginning of July this year.

The High Commissioner noted that his Designated Expert on Haiti, William O'Neill, visited the country last month, with his observations confirming the continued gravity of the situation.

“I am convinced that the security crisis, the rule of law crisis, and the governance crisis that Haitians are enduring can be resolved,” Türk said.

“Crucial to that effort must be full implementation of the Security Council's arms embargo to prevent the supply of firearms and ammunition to non-State actors in Haiti, as well as its targeted asset freeze and travel ban. The embargo is mandatory, and it was adopted unanimously – most recently in October 2023. It is due to be renewed on 18 October. I strongly encourage passage of this important set of measures, and I urge all States – including all Security Council Member States – to enforce every aspect in full,” the High Commissioner stated.

Weapons and ammunition are not manufactured in Haiti but flow in from businesses elsewhere.

States must do more to enforce in full the Security Council's embargo on weapons exporters operating in or from their territory.

This is leading to thousands of killings, massive displacement, the complete destruction of the economy, and horrific suffering.

The UN Human rights Office has documented targeted killings and random shootings, including of children, by members of increasingly powerful criminal gangs; mass kidnappings; the forced recruitment, exploitation and trafficking of children; as well as the burning and looting of residences and businesses.

“Gender-based violence, including sexual violence, has reached new peaks of brutality and scale, with my Office documenting collective rapes among other horrors. The number of internally displaced people in the country has risen by 95 percent since March, to 703,000 – almost 6 percent of the population,” Türk said.

Attacks against hospitals; banks; police stations; schools; the main seaport and airport in the capital; and gangs' control of roads have further disrupted the provision of essential services, with lethal humanitarian impact.

Over 4.9 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity; in other words, well over one-third of the population are suffering severe undernourishment, reflected in wasting and starvation.

Three million Haitian children need humanitarian aid.

“I welcome last week's renewal by the Security Council of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. It is also absolutely crucial to ensure that the MSS mission, led by Kenya, is given adequate resources and support. All security operations – including those conducted jointly by the MSS mission and the Haitian police – need to comply fully with international law, including international human rights law, and they need to be accountable,” Türk said.

The UN Human Rights Office is supporting the development and implementation of the compliance mechanism requested by the Security Council.

Together with the MSS mission, the Office is organising briefings for personnel with command responsibility regarding international standards on the use of force; preventing sexual exploitation and abuse; and a principled approach to issues involving children associated with gangs. The Office is also continuing to support the Haitian authorities, and to monitor and verify alleged human rights violations, including any allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Türk also highlighted, “In a more general sense, it is also essential to strengthen governance and state institutions, particularly the judiciary, the police, and the penitentiary system. Furthermore, it is important to begin addressing the inequalities and poverty that are pervasive in the country."

He then commended “the new transitional government for including key human rights commitments in its roadmap. Its concrete action plans to combat corruption and other human rights violations include specialized judicial units to help address mass crimes, such as sexual violence, as well as financial crimes. The persistence of corrupt practices, particularly within public institutions, is deeply destabilizing, and urgent action is needed in this regard."

“Haiti is a small country of immense importance to our world. In terms of human rights, we can never forget its revolution against slavery and colonial oppression, surely one of the most inspiring chapters in human history,” Türk said.

The extraordinary creativity of Haitian culture, and the ingenuity and determination of so many Haitian individuals, have driven outsized contributions to the economies and societies of many States.

“It pains me to see the deportations, mistreatment, and hateful and racist smears that target Haitians in some countries of the region. Haitians have the same rights to live free from violence, fear and misery as every person of every other nationality,” the High Commissioner said.

“In a country of less than 28,000 square kilometres – less than 65 percent of the size of Switzerland – addressing the current crisis is not an outsized challenge, in either strategy or cost. On the contrary: each facet of Haiti's current crisis can be addressed and can be resolved,” Türk stated.

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