'Haiti Needs Solidarity at This Crucial Moment' - UN Humanitarian Coordinator

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Published Jun 22, 2024

Press conference by Ulrika Richardson, Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti, on the humanitarian situation in Haiti.

Haiti has been engulfed in a devastating spiral of violence. More than 314,000 people have been internally displaced, over half of them children.

"Haiti needs solidarity at this crucial moment," Richardson stressed.

Ulrika Richardson, Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti, said that since 2023, the situation in the country went “from just really bad to even worse.”

Addressing the press virtually today (28 Feb) from Port-au-Price on the humanitarian situation in Haiti, Richardson stated that January 2024 has been the most violent month in the last two years, and she added, “I think that says a lot.”

She said, “People are being subjected to very brutal and grave violations of their human rights. They are being subjected to very brutal forms of sexual violence, including collective rape, and we've seen effective 50 percent increase in sexual violations between 2022 and 2023.”

She also said, “We have now 314,000 displaced people in Haiti, which is a quite a stark number.”

She continued, “More or less 5 million Haitians are in need of humanitarian assistance. And that's quite significant if we consider that the country has between 10 and 11-12 million in terms of population. And we know that out of those, that are 4.4 million people that's about 40 percent of the population that actually face acute food insecurity. And we also know that 45 percent of Haitians don't have access to clean drinking water.”

Talking about the launch of this year's Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti, she mentioned that yesterday (27 Feb), the United Nations launched an appeal for $674 million for humanitarian projects in the country.

She commented, “This is a call for increased solidarity. And Haiti needs it. It's going through one of the most critical moments in its recent history.”

Answering a question, she said, “The level of violence that people are exposed to, is inhuman. It cannot continue like this. If you would ask people on the street, if they need assistance to deal with a gang violence they would say yes.”