Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a speech during a plenary at the Summit of the Future at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

By Canadian Press

Trudeau meets with Haiti’s acting prime minister, calls for humanitarian help

Sep 23, 2024 | 3:43 PM

Justin Trudeau urged global leaders to come together to build a serious and immediate plan to meet the humanitarian needs of Haitians as the Caribbean nation continues to be besieged by gang violence, hunger and political instability.

“We must ensure that everyone, particularly the next generation of Haitians, are offered a better and brighter future,” Trudeau told a high-level meeting for a United Nations advisory group for Haiti on Monday.

The speech followed a bilateral meeting between Trudeau and the country’s acting prime minister, Garry Conille.

Conille stepped into his role earlier this year after Ariel Henry was forced out amid surging unrest and violence by criminal gangs that had overrun much of Haiti’s capital.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said the gangs sew chaos, making it easier to prey on vulnerable communities. A June UN report said nearly 580,000 people were displaced from their homes and the country faces severe shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care.

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Haiti last held elections in 2016. The country recently took its first steps toward a new vote, creating a provisional election council. During Monday’s meeting with Trudeau, Conille said Haiti is preparing for an election possibly in 2026.

Trudeau told other world leaders to support the transitional government while cautioning that the status quo cannot continue. He also repeated calls he has made for two years for more countries to sanction Haiti’s political and business elites who have helped gangs sow anarchy.

Trudeau also said Kenyan police officers must be given more support in leading a global effort to rout the gangs. Kenya is leading an international mission that has been controversial in Haiti but that the UN says is necessary to stop violence and curb the flow of weapons to other Caribbean countries.

While Canada is closely invested in the response to the ongoing humanitarian, security and political crises, it will not provide boots on the ground, said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. Canada will continue to provide financial support, she added.

“Clearly what is happening in Haiti is catastrophic,” Joly said. “We are seeing the numbers and we are seeing too many innocent children, innocent women, innocent men facing famine and facing real hunger issues.”

Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, said there have been positive advances recently but when he visited Haiti a few weeks ago, the situation was still shocking.

“It’s bad, it’s very bad,” said Rae, who joined Trudeau at Monday’s meetings.

The prime minister also met with Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, before attending a working luncheon hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Later Monday, Trudeau is set to have a much different type of conversation while making his guest debut on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Trudeau arrived in New York on Sunday where he delivered remarks to the Summit of the Future, telling leaders they can choose to stick their heads in the sand or come together to confront global challenges.

The summit has a goal to reform the UN, reinvigorate multilateralism and find solutions to new challenges at a time when the global institution has struggled resolve conflicts and been largely relegated to faltering humanitarian efforts, including with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war in Gaza and Sudan’s civil war.

The “Pact of the Future,” a 42-page blueprint to address a wide range of 21st-century global challenges, was approved during the opening of the two-day summit, which is taking place ahead of the 78th meeting of the UN General Assembly.

The pact had seen significant pushback from Russia, Saudi Arabia and other countries that object to some of the language on issues including climate change and reforming international financial institutions.

Its fate was in question until the last moment, and UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had three speeches prepared to be ready for any outcome.

Guterres warned last week that “international challenges are moving faster than our ability to solve them.” The passing of the pact brought some optimism at a time when increasing geopolitical instability around the world has cast a shadow over the assembly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday about Russia’s ongoing invasion in his country. Russia has a permanent seat on the Security Council and has been resoundingly criticized over its aggression in Ukraine being a violation of the UN Charter.

Joly will deliver Canada’s national statement later during the UN General Assembly. The speech will emphasize “Canada’s commitment to promoting multilateral co-operation, human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” a news release from her office said.

“In the face of multiple global crises, the world needs a strong, effective and modern UN,” Joly said in the statement.

“Through constructive dialogue, shared learning and collective problem solving at this year’s (UN General Assembly), I am confident that we can effectively work together to address some of the most critical issues of our time.”