The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has allocated $5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help meet the humanitarian needs caused by gang violence in Haiti.
The funding injection comes amid the killing of hundreds of people in clashes between gangs in Haiti's Cité Soleil since July, the United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) spokesperson, Jens Laerke said on Friday. Many others have been trapped in the fighting, which has cut off their access to drinking water, food and health care.
“Overall, we estimate that nearly 280,000 people are affected by this situation” Mr. Laerke added.
Cité Soleil with a current estimated population of around 300,000 is one of the most deprived communes in Port-au-Prince and its humanitarian and development needs were huge even before the current upsurge in violence.
According to the UN, between 8 and 17 July over 471 people were killed, injured or unaccounted for. Serious incidents of sexual violence against women and girls, as well as boys being recruited by gangs, have also been reported.
Around 3,000 people have fled their homes, including hundreds of unaccompanied children, while at least 140 houses have been destroyed or burnt down.
Humanitarian Coordinator, Ulrika Richardson, called on all parties to end the deadly violence and ensure an open humanitarian corridor to Cité Soleil to allow unhindered access to emergency humanitarian and medical assistance, for all residents. She said needs there are “immense and are growing due to poverty, lack of basic services, including security, and a recent spike in violence.
The CERF allocation will help humanitarian agencies increase their response to the situation and funding through the UN Children's fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) will provide food, drinking water, health care, mental health and education support to more than 100,000 people in total, the OCHA spokesperson explained.
Mr. Laerke pointed out that while “it is a small amount,” it is “a critical amount of money right now”. With a high level of insecurity in Haiti, humanitarians’ access to affected people has been compromised, he said. In addition to food or cash distributions, “basic services such as health and education for between 1 million to 1.5 million people” have been “trapped in gang-controlled neighbourhoods in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area”.
According to Mr. Laerke, this year, an estimated 4.9 million Haitians, or about 43 per cent of the total population, need humanitarian assistance. However, “the Haiti humanitarian response plan, asking $373 million, is currently 14 per cent funded,” he warned.
Established by the UN General Assembly in 2005, CERF enables humanitarian responders to deliver life-saving assistance wherever crises strike. Since March 2006, CERF has received pledges and contributions from 126 UN Member States and public and private donors. This has made it possible for humanitarian partners to deliver over $5.5 billion in life-saving assistance in over 100 countries and territories. Mr. Laerke explained that following an injection of money from the CERF, “other donors follow because it comes with a message that this is critical lifesaving interventions we need now.”
The funding comes as UNICEF warn that more than 250,000 children in Haiti do not have access to adequate schools.
Reconstruction has been delayed by insecurity and lack of funds, the UN Agency said in a statement. Of the 1,250 schools that were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake on 14 August 2021, the majority still have not been rebuilt.
At the end of 2021, UNICEF requested $97 million through the 2022 Humanitarian Appeal for Children to reach 950,000 people, including 520,000 children in Haiti. To date, it has only received 30 per cent of the funding needed to meet the basic health, education, nutrition and protection of Haitian children. Without $64.6 million in urgent funding, UNICEF will be unable to aid the most vulnerable in Haiti, the Agency warned.
ENDS
STORY: CERF Funding Haiti (OCHA)
TRT: 02:32”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 19 August 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying.
2. Wide shot, panel at press briefing.
3. Soundbite: (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson:
“The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has allocated $5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help meet the humanitarian needs caused by gang violence in Haiti. Since July, hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between gangs in Haiti's Cité Soleil. Many others have been trapped in the fighting, cutting off their access to drinking water, food and health care.”
4. Close of journalist and camera filming briefing.
5. Soundbite: (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson:
“Overall we estimate that nearly 280,000 people are affected by this situation. The CEFR allocation will help humanitarian agencies increase their response and funding through UNICEF and WFP our colleagues will provide food, drinking water, health care, mental health and education support to more than 100,000 people in total.”
6. Close of photographer.
7. Soundbite: (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson:
“ It is a small amount, but it is a critical amount of money right now. So that's the first function of the CERF. The second function of the CERF is more systemic. What often happens when we inject money from the CERF is that other donors follow because it comes, of course, with a message and a signal that this is critical lifesaving interventions we need now. ”
8. Mid of attendees at press briefing.
9. Soundbite: (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson:
“The high level of insecurity in Haiti is compromising humanitarian access to affected people, for example, for food and cash distributions, but also to basic services such as health and education for between one and one and a half million people trapped in gang-controlled neighbourhoods in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. ”
10. Mid of cameras filming the briefing.
11. Soundbite: (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson:
“This year, an estimated 4.9 million Haitians, or about 43 per cent of the total population, need humanitarian assistance. Our humanitarian response plan for the country, it's asking $373 million, is currently only 14 per cent funded.”
12. Mid of attendees at briefing.
13. Mid of panel.
14. Mid of attendees at briefing.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.