JOINT MEETING OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL (ECOSOC) AND THE PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION (PBC) WITH A FOCUS ON HAITI
11 June 2025
Thank you Chair and President for convening us today.
We meet at a critical time for Haiti.
The political, security and humanitarian situation is dire, with extreme violence being perpetrated by armed gangs.
The situation for women and young girls is especially concerning, with rates of sexual and gender-based violence having spiked in January and February of this year.
Chair, President,
I have three points:
First, we welcome the ongoing work of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti, which continues to address Haiti’s long-term development aspirations.
But as outlined in the 2030 Agenda ‘there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development’.
Accordingly, we strongly encourage Haiti to engage with the PBC.
The PBC can offer a platform for Haiti to seek support for community-level peacebuilding and violence reduction measures, both identified as a priority in its Rapid Crisis Impact Assessment.
The peacebuilding architecture can complement existing efforts being led by the UN development system to support Haiti’s immediate priorities, including on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and community violence reduction.
Second, we recognise the critical support provided by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), and welcome Haiti as one of five countries to receive assessed contributions from 2025.
We particularly welcome PBF-funded projects focused on strengthening women’s engagement in conflict prevention and resolution initiatives, as well as youth-led efforts to overcome neighbourhood divisions in a context of gang violence.
As a longstanding donor, Australia is proud to have tripled our annual voluntary contribution to the Fund to AUD15 million per year in support of such efforts.
Finally, addressing the security situation in the country and securing sustainable financing for both peacebuilding and development must be a top priority.
We are looking to the Security Council to respond to Haiti’s calls for further security assistance.
Chair, President,
We hope these joint PBC-ECOSOC discussions contribute to a UN system that acts in a more integrated manner to support countries when they need it most.
We look forward to follow-up action and stand ready to support Haiti in both the PBC and ECOSOC.
Thank you.