Saving lives: Addressing food security needs of Haiti

The United Nations Economic and Social Council is convening a special meeting on “Saving Lives: Addressing the urgent food security needs of Haiti”. 

WHEN: Friday, 16 June 2023, 10:00 – 13:00 

WHERE: Trusteeship Council Chamber, United Nations Headquarters, New York 

WHAT: Nearly half of the population in Haiti doesn’t have enough to eat. In rural areas, 76 percent of people are affected by food insecurity. Restoring livelihoods is fundamental to the humanitarian response. Launched in April 2023, the UN Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023 called for an unprecedented $719 million - almost double from 2022. To date, the plan is only 20% funded. The recent floods and earthquake have shown that Haiti’s humanitarian needs remain considerable and will continue to grow as the hurricane season starts.  Building on the work of ECOSOC Advisory Group on Haiti, ECOSOC will convene a special meeting to mobilize action and resources in support of food security in Haiti and to call on the international community to show solidarity with the Haitian people and contribute to the funding appeals. 

WHO:  Opening will include:  

• President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, H.E. Lachezara Stoeva 
• Prime Minister of Saint-Vincent and the Grenadines and Chair of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), H.E. Ralph Gonsalves  
• Prime Minister of Jamaica, H.E. Andrew Holness  
• Minister of Planning and External Cooperation of Haiti, H.E. Ricard Pierre 
• Chair of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, H.E. Bob Rae  
• Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Ms. Cindy H. McCain 
• Executive Director of UNICEF, Ms. Catherine Russell 

Followed by a roundtable: 

• Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations, H.E. Claver Gatete (moderator) 
• Vice Minister of Bilateral Affairs of the Dominican Republic, H.E. José Julio Gómez  
• Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ms. Ulrika Richardson  
• Ms. Edem Wosornu, Director, Operations and Advocacy Division, OCHA  
• Mr. Guangzhou Qu, Director, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Liaison Office with the United Nations 
• Ms. Patrizia Tumbarello, Mission Chief for Haiti, International Monetary Fund (IMF)  
• Mr. Laurent Msellati, Country Manager for Haiti, World Bank Group  
• Mr. William O’Neill, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti  

For a full programme, please visit http://bit.ly/HaitiFreeOfHunger       

WEBCAST: The event will be streamed live on https://media.un.org     

HASHTAG: #HaitiCantWait   

ACCESS: The event is open to all UN accredited media.  

MEDIA CONTACT: Paul Simon, Office for Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs 

E: simonp@un.org 

T: +1 917 367 5027 | M: +1 347 267 5618