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STORY: UN / HAITI
TRT:4:46
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 28 AUGUST 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
28 AUGUST 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Let me be clear: all parties must respect international humanitarian law. Humanitarian personnel, assets and facilities must be protected. Despite the danger, humanitarians remain on the ground – delivering food, water, medicine, and shelter.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I urge all authorities to implement the Handover Protocol nationwide. End the detention of children for alleged association with armed groups. Ensure access to specialized services, including for survivors of sexual violence. And guarantee accountability for all perpetrators. I call on this Council to prioritize the protection of children.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I urge the Council to act without delay and authorize an international force, supported by the United Nations through logistical and operational backing, and predictable financing. Voluntary contributions to the MSS Trust Fund remain essential, but assessed support would ensure impact and sustainability.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“BINUH will continue to support an inclusive political process and work closely with the Haitian National Police, the MSS, and donors to ensure coherent, coordinated assistance. I urge all national stakeholders to seize this moment and sustain this spirit of cooperation.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“Most alarming is the almost 700 per cent rise in cases of recruitment and use of children, alongside a 54 per cent increase in killing and maiming. Keep in mind that these are just the cases we have been able to verify – we believe the true figures are much higher.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“In 2024, the number of reported cases of sexual violence against children rose by 1,000 per cent over the previous year. And as you will have seen in the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, the UN found that over a quarter of all cases of verified sexual violence were gang rapes. This constitutes a widespread campaign to terrorize communities and inflict lasting physical and psychological trauma on children – especially girls who account for most of the victims and survivors.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“I ask you to demand that all armed groups end attacks on schools and hospitals … immediately release children from their ranks … and allow secure, unimpeded access for humanitarian workers to safely reach communities in need. I ask that you appeal to security forces on the ground to prioritize the safety and protection of all children … and to ensure they are treated as children first and foremost … taking every measure to avoid further killing and injuring children, including those who have been recruited. I ask that you support the Government of Haiti and its partners to prioritize children's rights across public policies and through investment in social services. This includes education, health care, justice and protection for children.”
16. Various shots, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean Jean Roosevelt, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Haiti:
“I am convinced that just like myself, the child you once were is also here in this chamber today, realizing their dream of becoming diplomats, ambassadors, agronomists, doctors, teachers. The list goes on. Let us give that same chance to our children. The chance to grow, to dream, and to one day become agents of change in our world. Let us give them back their most fundamental right, their childhood. Give them once again the opportunity to laugh, to run, to learn, to dream. Let us carry together their dignity, their hope and their future. Let us take action so that Haiti may once again have schools, hospitals and safe spaces. We must take action so that children no longer have to live in fear, but to live upheld by the promise of tomorrow. That is absolute that the future of Haiti is no longer compromised, but propelled forward by the energy, the laughter, and the dreams of its children.”
18. Various shots, Security Council
19. SOUDNBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Acting US Representative to the United Nations:
“The United States and Panama are sharing a draft UN Security Council resolution with this Council to help address the growing violence by establishing a Gang Suppression Force and creating a UN Support Office to provide logistical support to efforts on the ground. We urge Council members: join us – join us in responding to the call from the Haitian government, as we forge a new path towards peace and security, and establish the UN Support Office to properly, and sustainably, resource this effort.”
20. Wide shot, Security Council
21. SOUNDBITE (French) Fritzner Gaspard, Deputy Permanent Representative of Haiti to the United Nations:
“Resolving Haiti's humanitarian crisis inevitably requires us to address the serious security crisis afflicting the country. For this reason, we'd like to once again reiterate that there's a pressing need for Security Council members to take a stance without delay on the Secretary-General's proposal, setting out the major elements of the role that the UN is called upon to play in Haiti as it faces this multidimensional crisis, which has gone on for far too long and cost the lives of millions of innocent civilians.”
22. Wide shot, Security Council
UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the Council to “act without delay” and authorize an international force in Haiti, supported by the United Nations through logistical and operational backing, and predictable financing.
Addressing the Council today (28 Aug) on the situation in Haiti, Guterres reiterated, “all parties must respect international humanitarian law. Humanitarian personnel, assets and facilities must be protected.”
He highlighted that despite the danger, humanitarians remain on the ground – delivering food, water, medicine, and shelter in the country.
The UN chief also urged all authorities to implement the Handover Protocol nationwide, stressing “end the detention of children for alleged association with armed groups. Ensure access to specialized services, including for survivors of sexual violence. And guarantee accountability for all perpetrators.”
Guterres called on the Council to “prioritize the protection of children.”
The Secretary-General also said that BINUH will continue to support an inclusive political process and work closely with the Haitian National Police, the MSS, and donors to “ensure coherent, coordinated assistance.”
He urged all national stakeholders to “seize this moment and sustain this spirit of cooperation.”
Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also spoke at the Council.
She warned, “Most alarming is the almost 700 per cent rise in cases of recruitment and use of children, alongside a 54 per cent increase in killing and maiming,” adding that the true figures are much higher.
Russell also highlighted that in 2024, the number of reported cases of sexual violence against children rose by 1,000 per cent over the previous year.
She referred to the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, “the UN found that over a quarter of all cases of verified sexual violence were gang rapes.”
“This constitutes a widespread campaign to terrorize communities and inflict lasting physical and psychological trauma on children – especially girls who account for most of the victims and survivors,” the UNICEF chief reiterated.
Russell asked the Council to “demand that all armed groups end attacks on schools and hospitals … immediately release children from their ranks … and allow secure, unimpeded access for humanitarian workers to safely reach communities in need.”
She called on the Council to “appeal to security forces on the ground to prioritize the safety and protection of all children … and to ensure they are treated as children first and foremost … taking every measure to avoid further killing and injuring children, including those who have been recruited.”
The UNICEF chief also asked Council member to “support the Government of Haiti and its partners to prioritize children's rights across public policies and through investment in social services. This includes education, health care, justice and protection for children.”
For his part, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Haiti Jean Jean Roosevelt said, “I am convinced that just like myself, the child you once were is also here in this chamber today, realizing their dream of becoming diplomats, ambassadors, agronomists, doctors, teachers.”
“Let us give that same chance to our children. The chance to grow, to dream, and to one day become agents of change in our world,” Roosevelt said.
He continued, “Let us give them back their most fundamental right, their childhood. Give them once again the opportunity to laugh, to run, to learn, to dream. Let us carry together their dignity, their hope and their future. Let us take action so that Haiti may once again have schools, hospitals and safe spaces.”
The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador concluded, “We must take action so that children no longer have to live in fear, but to live upheld by the promise of tomorrow. That is absolute that the future of Haiti is no longer compromised, but propelled forward by the energy, the laughter, and the dreams of its children.”
US Representative Dorothy Shea told the Council that her country and Panama are sharing a draft UN Security Council resolution to “help address the growing violence by establishing a Gang Suppression Force and creating a UN Support Office to provide logistical support to efforts on the ground.”
She urged Council members to join – “join us in responding to the call from the Haitian government, as we forge a new path towards peace and security, and establish the UN Support Office to properly, and sustainably, resource this effort.”
Fritzner Gaspard, Deputy Permanent Representative of Haiti to UN told the Council, “Resolving Haiti's humanitarian crisis inevitably requires us to address the serious security crisis afflicting the country.”
He reiterated that “there's a pressing need for Security Council members to take a stance without delay on the Secretary-General's proposal, setting out the major elements of the role that the UN is called upon to play in Haiti as it faces this multidimensional crisis, which has gone on for far too long and cost the lives of millions of innocent civilians.”
