Haiti PM Urges Global Action on Security Crisis and Arms Trafficking at UN

Haiti's Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé used his address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to press for greater international engagement with his country's deepening security crisis, warning that the flow of illicit weapons into Haiti is sustaining gang violence and destabilising the wider region.

Fils-Aimé said restoring security, stability and economic recovery form the three priorities of his government, and pointed to cooperation with the United States, Canada, France, Chile and Mexico in modernising Haiti's national security capabilities. He also acknowledged the Dominican Republic's willingness to engage in dialogue and its support for a durable settlement to the Haitian crisis.

Central to his appeal was the question of arms and ammunition trafficking. The prime minister noted that the weapons fuelling violence in Haitian neighbourhoods are not manufactured locally, but arrive through criminal networks that bolster gangs and endanger regional stability. "As long as these traffics thrive, violence will find the means to perpetuate itself," he warned, calling for a collective response.

Fils-Aimé linked the security situation to migration, saying that crises left unaddressed drive displacement and forced movement, and that thousands of Haitians have already left the country as a result. He paid tribute to the victims of violence, as well as to Haitian, Kenyan and other foreign police officers and soldiers who have died while serving in Haiti, saying their sacrifices impose a duty of justice. He added that Haiti has chosen to strengthen the operational capacity of its national security forces.

On the economic front, the prime minister welcomed the decision by President Donald Trump's administration to extend US trade preferences for Haiti until 2028, describing it as an important step towards reviving the economy, and called for a further ten-year extension.

Fils-Aimé also raised the burden of climate change on small states, arguing that countries which have contributed least to the problem often bear the heaviest cost, frequently at the expense of their own development.