UN / HAITI

STORY: UN / HAITI
TRT: 03:35
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 17OCTOBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters

17 OCTOBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Council President
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti
and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti:
“As undocumented cholera cases tear through parts of Port-au-Prince, particularly Cité Soleil, gangs continue to blockade the Varreux terminal where most of the country’s fuel is stored. The consequences for Haiti’s basic infrastructure have been severe, disrupting operations at the country’s hospitals and water suppliers, impacting cholera response. Without fuel, waste is not removed from neighbourhoods, while torrential rains promote flooding, which mixes with refuse to create insalubrious conditions ripe for the spread of disease.”
5. Med shot, Haiti’s Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti
and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti:
“The reality is that without free movement of fuel, Haiti will be unable to get ahead of this current crisis. For all of the National Police’s accomplishments in re-opening roads and neighbourhoods, the port where fuel is stored remains a challenge. Furthermore, the paucity of fuel is now impacting police mobility and response.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti
and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti:
“It is against this backdrop of insecurity and humanitarian crisis that on 7 October the Council of Ministers authorized the Prime Minister to request the support of a specialized international armed force, to help secure the free movement of water, fuel, and medical supplies to avert the situation deteriorating further. I can only reiterate the Secretary-General’s call on Haiti’s partners to consider this request as a matter of urgency for the immediate relief of those already most vulnerable.”
9. Wide shot, Council with La Lime on screen
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“This resolution will propose a limited, carefully scoped, non-UN mission led by a partner country with the deep, necessary experience required for such an effort to be effective. At the United Nations and across the United States government, we will work with partners and other Council members to set defined and specific parameters for the mission, and the United States will consider the most effective means to directly support, enable, and resource it.”
11. Med shot, Council President
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean Victor Geneus, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship, Haiti:
“The Secretary General, in his letter dated ninth October to the council in the wake of the request from the government by Haiti, has urged the international community including members of the Council to urgently consider the request from the government so as to help us face the crisis. Mr. President, Haiti today is dealing with major security, political, economic and social challenges. The humanitarian crisis and the resurgence of cholera aggravate the situation further.”
13. Wide shot, Council

STORYLINE:

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, Helen La Lime, today (17 Oct) told the Security Council that as cholera cases “tear through parts of Port-au-Prince,” and armed gangs continue to blockade the Varreux fuel terminal, “the consequences for Haiti’s basic infrastructure have been severe.”

The lack of fuel, La Lime said, has disrupted operations at the country’s hospitals and water suppliers, impacting the cholera response.

Without fuel, she said, “waste is not removed from neighbourhoods, while torrential rains promote flooding, which mixes with refuse to create insalubrious conditions ripe for the spread of disease.”

Without free movement of fuel, the UN official said, “Haiti will be unable to get ahead of this current crisis.”

Against this backdrop of insecurity and humanitarian crisis, La Lime noted, “on 7 October the Council of Ministers authorized the Prime Minister to request the support of a specialized international armed force, to help secure the free movement of water, fuel, and medical supplies to avert the situation deteriorating further.”

She reiterated Secretary-General António Guterres’s call on Haiti’s partners “to consider this request as a matter of urgency for the immediate relief of those already most vulnerable.”

United States Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfieldthold the Council that the US and Mexico will bring two draft resolutions to the Council, one imposing financial sanctions on criminal actors and a second resolution that would authorize a non-UN international security assistance mission.

This resolution, she said, “will propose a limited, carefully scoped, non-UN mission led by a partner country with the deep, necessary experience required for such an effort to be effective,” and added that the United States “will consider the most effective means to directly support, enable, and resource it.”

Haiti’s Foreign Minister, Jean Victor Geneus, for his part told the Council that “Haiti today is dealing with major security, political, economic and social challenges” and “the humanitarian crisis and the resurgence of cholera aggravate the situation further.”

He echoed the Secretary General’s call for “the international community including members of the Council to urgently consider the request from the government so as to help us face the crisis”