Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / HAITI
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / HAITI
TRT: 05:08
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 02 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
02 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča addressing Council
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas,
Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“I was struck by the profound transformation of Port-au-Prince. The capital city was, for all intents and purposes, paralyzed by gangs and isolated as a result of the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Since then, gangs have only strengthened their foothold, which now affects all communes of the port au Prince metropolitan area and beyond, pushing the situation closer to the brink.”
5. Wide shot, Jenča addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas,
Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“Clear divergencies among stakeholders are apparent regarding the feasibility of holding a constitutional referendum and elections by February 2026. Particularly concerning, the need to establish a climate of security and trust for those elections to take place. Any delays or efforts to undermine the political transition, reaching the 7th February 2026 deadline for the installation of a newly elected executive and Parliament would be worrisome. Haiti cannot afford a drift in the political transition.”
7. Wide shot, Jenča addressing Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas,
Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“Despite their best efforts, the MSS and the Haitian National Police have been unable to make headway in restoring state authority, and without the additional security support from the international community, the outlook is bleak. Additional voluntary contributions to the MSS trust fund are needed to sustain the mission and ensure the achievement of its objectives.”
9. Wide shot Council, UNODC Executive Director Ghada Fathy Waly on screen
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ghada Fathy Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):
“As gang control expands, the state's capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking, with social, economic and security implications. In the vacuum left by the absence or limited delivery of public services, criminal groups are stepping in. They are establishing parallel governance structure and providing rudimentary public services. This erosion of state legitimacy has cascading effects. With gangs controlling major trade routes, legal commerce is paralyzed. Container traffic at the Port-au-Prince terminal has plummeted, choking off supply chains and crippling the economy.”
11. Med shot, Haiti Ambassador
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ghada Fathy Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):
“The forced repatriation of Haitian migrants from several countries in the region continues, often to zones of acute insecurity without basic protection or services, exacerbating the vulnerabilities of already at-risk populations.”
13. Wide shot, Haiti Ambassador Ericq Pierre addressing Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ericq Pierre, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Haiti:
“We support the establishment of the United Nations Support Office for MSS so that much more robust support can be provided to the mission. In the same line of ideas, we support the renewal of BINUH in Haiti, but its mandate has to be beefed up in the following area. The issue of disarmament and the reintegration of children and the young people who have been recruited by gangs to make sure that they can recover their place within society without being discriminated against.”
15. Med shot, Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez Gil addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Roberto Álvarez Gil, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dominican Republic:
“The Dominican Republic fully supports the renewal of BINUH’s mandate and the proposal for an office to take on operative and logistical tasks, so that it can more effectively support the MSS. This proposal is urgent given that the MSS continues to be underfunded, it is facing logistical challenges, and it still lacks the scope that the country demands.”
17. Wide shot, Kenyan Ambassador Mbugua Martin Kimani addressing Council
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Mbugua Martin Kimani Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Kenya:
“While do we deeply appreciate the invariable direct support to the mission by key partners such as the United States, as well as donors to the UN Trust Fund, much remains to be done to enable the MSS to overcome the severe personnel and other constraints in securing the required operational air and maritime support elements. The mission also requires urgent operationalization of the planned forward operating bases, which as of now only three have been established.”
19. Wide shot, end of Council session
Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča today (2 Jul) told the Security Council that Haiti has continued to witness a sharp erosion of state authority and the rule of law there, with brutal gang violence affecting every aspect of public and of private life.
Jenča, who visited Haiti in January, said, “I was struck by the profound transformation of Port-au-Prince. The capital city was, for all intents and purposes, paralyzed by gangs and isolated as a result of the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Since then, gangs have only strengthened their foothold, which now affects all communes of the port au Prince metropolitan area and beyond, pushing the situation closer to the brink.”
On the political front, he said, “clear divergencies among stakeholders are apparent regarding the feasibility of holding a constitutional referendum and elections by February 2026,” and added that “any delays or efforts to undermine the political transition, reaching the 7th February 2026 deadline for the installation of a newly elected executive and Parliament would be worrisome. Haiti cannot afford a drift in the political transition.”
Jenča said, “despite their best efforts,” the Multinational Security Support (MSS) and the Haitian National Police “have been unable to make headway in restoring state authority, and without the additional security support from the international community, the outlook is bleak.”
He said, “additional voluntary contributions to the MSS trust fund are needed to sustain the mission and ensure the achievement of its objectives.”
Jenča told the Council that the Secretary-General’s recommendations that were contained in his letter of 24 February, proposing to establish a UN support office to provide logistic and operational support for the MSS, are a realistic and practical proposal to address Haiti’s immediate security needs.
The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Waly, told Council members that organized criminal groups have gained near-total control of the capital, with an estimated 90 percent of Port-au-Prince under their grip, while they continue expanding across strategic routes and border regions.
Waly said, “as gang control expands, the state's capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking, with social, economic and security implications.”
“In the vacuum left by the absence or limited delivery of public services,” she continued, “criminal groups are stepping in” and are “establishing parallel governance structure and providing rudimentary public services.”
The Executive Director said “this erosion of state legitimacy has cascading effects. With gangs controlling major trade routes, legal commerce is paralyzed. Container traffic at the Port-au-Prince terminal has plummeted, choking off supply chains and crippling the economy.
She said that reports increasingly point to sexual exploitation targeting women and girls, particularly among those facing deportation or living in areas under gang control. And she added that even more disturbing are new allegations of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal.
Waly also said, “the forced repatriation of Haitian migrants from several countries in the region continues, often to zones of acute insecurity without basic protection or services, exacerbating the vulnerabilities of already at-risk populations.”
Haitian Ambassador Ericq Pierre expressed support for the establishment of the United Nations Support Office for MSS “so that much more robust support can be provided to the mission.”
“In the same line of ideas,” Pierre continued, “we support the renewal of BINUH in Haiti, but its mandate has to be beefed up in the following area. The issue of disarmament and the reintegration of children and the young people who have been recruited by gangs to make sure that they can recover their place within society without being discriminated against.”
Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez Gil for his part told the Council that his country “supports the renewal of BINUH’s mandate and the proposal for an office to take on operative and logistical tasks, so that it can more effectively support the MSS.”
This proposal, Álvarez Gil said, “is urgent given that the MSS continues to be underfunded, it is facing logistical challenges, and it still lacks the scope that the country demands.”
Lastly, Kenyan Ambassador Mbugua Martin Kimani said, “while do we deeply appreciate the invariable direct support to the mission by key partners such as the United States, as well as donors to the UN Trust Fund, much remains to be done to enable the MSS to overcome the severe personnel and other constraints in securing the required operational air and maritime support elements. The mission also requires urgent operationalization of the planned forward operating bases, which as of now only three have been established.”
The MSS is led by Kenya and coordinated with the Haitian National Police.
