On Wednesday, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) announced that the air corridor would facilitate the delivery of aid and guarantee the secure movement of personnel into and out of the nation.

On Thursday in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric informed the media that preparations are in progress for an aircraft to deliver supplies and facilitate staff movements.

Relief organizations on the ground continue to express grave concern for the well-being of aid-dependent civilians.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented over 400 instances of access being impeded throughout the country since the beginning of 2024, with 70 of those occurring in the first week of March.

The Caribbean island nation is still facing instability after Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s recent resignation. This is especially true in the Carrefour, Port-au-Prince, and Cité Soleil communes. Meanwhile, the airport, schools, and health facilities in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area are all closed.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 362,000 individuals in Haiti have been forced to leave their homes, with 15,000 of those recently becoming homeless in Port-au-Prince.

The recent outbreak of violence has resulted in the delivery of 75,000 meals by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to those impacted.

Approximately half of the population, which amounts to around 5.5 million people, is in need of humanitarian assistance. However, the United Nations’ request for $674 million in humanitarian aid for the year 2024 has only been funded at a low rate of 3.2%.

A lack of funding puts emergency response in jeopardy.

According to Mr. Dujarric, the lack of funds is jeopardizing aid operations in the field. In his briefing at UN Headquarters, he stated that the WFP may no longer be able to provide hot meals to individuals in urgent need of food as early as next week due to insufficient funding.

He stated that our colleagues are bravely staying in the area, putting themselves in danger, to provide food to those in need. He also mentioned that WFP successfully served 13,000 warm meals to those who were displaced by the recent violence on Wednesday.

According to WFP, he stated that an immediate amount of at least $10 million is required to sustain emergency aid efforts.

The United Nations’ evolving presence in Haiti

According to Mr. Dujarric, trips originating from the Dominican Republic are currently in the works.

A plane will transport supplies and experts in emergency response to Haiti, while also evacuating UN employees who are not essential to the relief efforts. This decision is part of a plan to restructure the UN’s presence in Haiti, replacing non-essential employees with specialized experts.

He stated that insufficient funding is hindering the deployment of the multinational support mission that was approved by the Security Council in October, adding to the security crisis.

“He stated that we do not have the necessary funds for assembling the mission. Only $10 million is currently available in the budget, but a significantly larger amount is needed.”

This information is from the United Nations’ news website.