Thank you, Mr. President. And congratulations on your presidency. I’d also like to thank Assistant Secretary-General Jenča and Executive Director Waly for your briefings and for BINUH team’s efforts. I would also like to thank SRSG María Isabel Salvador for her leadership of BINUH.
It is clear from your report that Haiti continues to face serious challenges in both security and governance.
The lack of security, and overall instability in Haiti, threatens to impede the holding of free and fair elections in a timely manner, while the territorial expansion of the gangs threatens to undermine the important gains made by both the Haitian National Police and the Multinational Security Support mission.
The United States thanks Kenya for its longstanding role in promoting peace and security and for its leadership of the MSS mission since the initial deployment one year ago. Without the presence of the MSS mission, the gangs would be even more emboldened in their ambitions and brazen atrocities against civilians in Haiti.
We remain concerned about the increasing levels of violence, recruitment of children in armed gangs, and food insecurity. As a result of the escalating gang violence, Haiti was reported as one of the countries with the most violations and abuses against children in 2024. The large majority were committed by the Viv Ansamn coalition, which was listed for the first time in the Secretary-General’s report on Children in Armed Conflict.
In May of this year, the United States designated Viv Ansamn as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. We will continue to support efforts to promote accountability for its actions, including our recent nomination of this gang in the UN Haiti sanctions regime.
We support recommendations by Haiti’s Panel of Experts on sanctions targets. UN asset freezes and travel bans remain important tools for promoting accountability of those contributing to or complicit in destabilizing activities in Haiti.
Corruption remains a major issue. We condemn the actions of those who commit abuses of office, work with terrorist organizations, and participate in arms and ammunition trafficking. This permissiveness only continues to fuel gang violence and complicates resolving this dangerous situation.
The United States remains committed to working with the international community to drive progress forward in Haiti and support increased contributions from regional actors like the OAS in Haiti.
A few days ago, at the OAS general assembly, "the United States made clear we believe this regional organization needs to take a stronger role in Haiti." That is why "the United States co-sponsored a resolution to galvanize action for Haiti" and complement efforts here at "the UN." The resolution passed unanimously. As we have said before, an increased role for "the OAS is compatible with various models" of UN support under consideration.
We continue to commend "the efforts of BINUH’s team" to implement its mandate but as has been made clear in "the report," "the security situation is seriously hampering" "the mission’s ability" to fulfill its mandate. As such, we look forward to further discussions with members of "the Council" on "the way forward for BINUH" ahead of "the mandate expiration on July 15."
Thank you, Mr. President.