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STORY: UN / HAITI WRAP
TRT: 06:29
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
20 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press conference dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):
“While security is so important to elections to happen, at the same time the political process and security improvements need to move at the same, simultaneously, so we can have further stability in the country on the security front, on the humanitarian side, but also on the political side.”
4. Wide shot, press conference dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):
“It’s still early in terms of coming back to democratic rule, democratic governance because of the transition nature of the government. But I do believe that we have a chance to contribute to the improvements and the discussions that are taking place these days. It's about how to make those gains more sustainable so we don't go back after getting some positive results.”
6. Wide shot, press conference dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):
“Some of the gangs are listed in the Secretary General’s Report on Children in Armed Conflict as utilizing children, recruiting children. We need to establish now a system by which there will be engagement with those gangs in order to request and to demand the release of the children.”
8. Wide shot, end of presser
9. Wide shot, Security Council
10. Med shot, Haiti’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs Raïna Forbin, and the Special Representative for the Gang Suppression Force in Haiti Jack Christofides
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):
“Haiti continued to face persistent insecurity, acute humanitarian needs, and institutional challenges, with devastating consequences for its population. Yet, recent developments demonstrate that there still remains an opportunity to move the political transition forward, begin reversing the threat posed by gangs and restore democratic governance.”
12. Med shot, Democratic Republic of the Congo Minister for Foreign Affairs Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):
“Security is indispensable for credible elections, yet security challenges must not become a reason to delay the political process. Electoral preparations and security improvements must advance together to sustain the movement. In this context, the full deployment of the GSF in support of national authorities remains critical to foster a security environment conducive to the electoral process.”
14. Med shot, Forbin, Christofides and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Monica Juma
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):
“Security operations alone will not produce lasting peace. Achieving it requires a broader strategy, one that reduces the appeal and the capacity of armed gangs while strengthening justice, state institutions, and providing opportunities for communities affected by violence, especially for women and children.”
16. Med shot, Juma addressing Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Monica Juma, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):
“The report before the Council today documents an important shift. Haiti's armed gangs are no longer simply seeking to capture territory. They are seeking to capture the systems of governance and the economic lifelines on which communities and institutions depend. They are competing for control over transport corridors, fuel supplies, food distribution network and illicit markets. Every checkpoint they control symbolises their authority. Their criminal portfolios have in turn diversified, drawing from multiple illicit revenue streams and creating a criminal ecosystem that is more adaptable, more resilient and sophisticated to dismantle.”
18. Med shot, Juma addressing Council
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Monica Juma, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):
“To help Haiti and put it on the path to peace, we must respond to the urgent needs on the ground while building institutions capable of sustaining long term stability and the rule of law. The first, most immediate priority must be to help authorities restore security and regain control of territory and key supply routes so that people, commerce and humanitarian aid can move safely.”
20. Wide shot, Council
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict:
“The situation of children in Haiti is amongst the most alarming anywhere in the world. Children are being killed, maimed, abducted, recruited and used by armed gangs, displaced from their homes, denied access to education and deprived of basic protection and legal identity. The violence they face is not incidental to the crisis. It is central to it. Children are caught at the intersection of insecurity, poverty, displacement and the growing control of armed gangs over daily life.”
22. Med shot, Christofides addressing Council
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Jack Christofides, Special Representative for the Gang Suppression Force in Haiti (GSF):
“Our strategy distinguishes between implementing the mandate and achieving outcomes that the mandate intended to produce. It establishes measurable benchmarks for this Council to evaluate, specifically where the GSF operations are reducing gang control, building independent Haitian capabilities, and creating conditions for restoring state authority. The benchmarks provide a transparent and comprehensive basis for measuring progress and ensuring accountability to this Council and to the Haitian people.”
24. Pan right, Council
25. SOUNDBITE (French) Raïna Forbin, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, Haiti:
“Today I would like to send a message, a message of hope, both to our international partners and the people of Haiti. Genuine progress is being made on the ground. We are closer than we've been in years to restoring security and holding elections that are free, credible, inclusive and participatory. Now is not the time to back down. It's the time for the international community to stand resolutely side by side with the Haitian people, to lock in progress that's already been made, and to help Haiti to return to the path to durable peace, security, stability, democracy and hope.”
26. Wide shot, end of meeting
Following an open briefing of the Security Council on the situation in Haiti, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, Carlos Ruiz Massieu today (20 Jul) told reporters in New York that the political process and security improvements need to move “simultaneously, so we can have further stability in the country on the security front, on the humanitarian side, but also on the political side.”
Ruiz Massieu said it was “still early in terms of coming back to democratic rule” in Haiti because of the transition nature of the government but added that “we have a chance to contribute to the improvements and the discussions that are taking place these days” so as “to make those gains more sustainable so we don't go back after getting some positive results.”
He said some of the gangs in Haiti are listed in the Secretary General’s Report on Children in Armed Conflict “as utilizing children, recruiting children” and stressed that “we need to establish now a system by which there will be engagement with those gangs in order to request and to demand the release of the children.”
Earlier in the day, briefing the Council, Ruiz Massieu said, “Haiti continued to face persistent insecurity, acute humanitarian needs, and institutional challenges, with devastating consequences for its population. Yet, recent developments demonstrate that there still remains an opportunity to move the political transition forward, begin reversing the threat posed by gangs and restore democratic governance.”
The Special Representative said security “is indispensable for credible elections, yet security challenges must not become a reason to delay the political process.” In this context, he added, the full deployment of the Gang Suppression Forse (GSF) “remains critical to foster a security environment conducive to the electoral process.”
Ruiz Massieu insisted that “security operations alone will not produce lasting peace” as “achieving it requires a broader strategy, one that reduces the appeal and the capacity of armed gangs while strengthening justice, state institutions, and providing opportunities for communities affected by violence, especially for women and children.”
Also briefing the Council, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Monica Juma said the latest report of the Secretary-General on Haiti, “documents an important shift.”
Juma said, “Haiti's armed gangs are no longer simply seeking to capture territory. They are seeking to capture the systems of governance and the economic lifelines on which communities and institutions depend. They are competing for control over transport corridors, fuel supplies, food distribution network and illicit markets. Every checkpoint they control symbolises their authority. Their criminal portfolios have in turn diversified, drawing from multiple illicit revenue streams and creating a criminal ecosystem that is more adaptable, more resilient and sophisticated to dismantle.”
To help Haiti and put it “on the path to peace,” she said, “we must respond to the urgent needs on the ground while building institutions capable of sustaining long term stability and the rule of law.”
The most immediate priority, Juma said, “must be to help authorities restore security and regain control of territory and key supply routes so that people, commerce and humanitarian aid can move safely.”
For her part, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, said, “the situation of children in Haiti is amongst the most alarming anywhere in the world. Children are being killed, maimed, abducted, recruited and used by armed gangs, displaced from their homes, denied access to education and deprived of basic protection and legal identity.”
The violence they face, Frazier added, “is not incidental to the crisis. It is central to it. Children are caught at the intersection of insecurity, poverty, displacement and the growing control of armed gangs over daily life.”
The Special Representative for the GSF, Jack Christofides, told the Council that its strategy “distinguishes between implementing the mandate and achieving outcomes that the mandate intended to produce.”
Christofides said it sets benchmarks, which “provide a transparent and comprehensive basis for measuring progress and ensuring accountability to this Council and to the Haitian people.”
Haiti’s Foreign Minister Raïna Forbin said she was sending “a message of hope, both to our international partners and the people of Haiti” that “genuine progress is being made on the ground.”
Forbin said, “we are closer than we've been in years to restoring security and holding elections that are free, credible, inclusive and participatory. Now is not the time to back down. It's the time for the international community to stand resolutely side by side with the Haitian people, to lock in progress that's already been made, and to help Haiti to return to the path to durable peace, security, stability, democracy and hope.”
On 3 July the government of Haiti and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) agreed on a $120 million budget for electoral operations. While an electoral calendar has yet to be finalised, on 10 July the CEP announced a timetable for the registration of political parties and voters to participate in the elections.
