Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response

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Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response

Summary

The largest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti devastated parts of the country, including the

capital, on January 12, 2010. The quake, centered about 15 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince,

had a magnitude of 7.0. A series of strong aftershocks have followed. Experts estimate the

earthquake caused $8 to $14 billion in damage. Approximately 3 million people, roughly onethird of the overall population, have been affected by the earthquake with estimates ranging from

1.2 to 2 million people displaced. The government of Haiti is reporting an estimated 230,000

deaths and 300,600 injured. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, President Rene Préval

described conditions in his country as “unimaginable,” and appealed for international assistance.

As the humanitarian relief operation continues, the government is struggling to restore the

institutions needed for it to function, ensure political stability, and address long-term

reconstruction and development planning. Prior to the earthquake, the international community

was providing extensive development and humanitarian assistance to Haiti. With that assistance,

the Haitian government had made significant progress in recent years in many areas of its

development strategy. The destruction of Haiti’s nascent infrastructure and other extensive

damage caused by the earthquake will set back Haiti’s development significantly. A post-disaster

needs assessment estimated the total value of recovery and reconstruction needs to be $11.5

billion. The Haitian government presented an action plan for reconstruction and development at a

global donors’ conference held on March 31, 2010. Donors pledged over $5 billion for the first 18

months of Haiti’s reconstruction. The United States pledged $1.2 billion. Extra-constitutional rule

will begin after May 10, when most parliamentarians’ terms expire; President Préval will

probably rule by decree after that. There is no timetable for new parliamentary elections.

The sheer scale of the relief effort in Haiti has brought together tremendous capacity and

willingness to help. As the rainy and hurricane seasons begin, the massive humanitarian relief

operation underway in Haiti is focused on providing waterproof emergency shelter, improving

sanitation and meeting the basic needs of the displaced and other vulnerable Haitians. The relief

effort is expected to last for many months. On January 12, 2010, President Barack Obama

assembled heads of U.S. agencies to begin working immediately on a coordinated response to the

disaster, with the U.S. Agency for International Development through the Office of Foreign

Disaster Assistance as the lead agency. On January 14, the Administration announced $100

million in humanitarian assistance to Haiti to meet the immediate needs on the ground. As of

April 30, 2010, total humanitarian funding provided to Haiti for the earthquake had reached over

$1 billion. In the FY2010 supplemental request, the Administration is seeking a total of $2.8

billion for Haiti. Of that, $1.5 billion is for relief and disaster assistance, which would reimburse

U.S. government agencies for services provided and for funds already obligated for ongoing relief

activities. The request for recovery and reconstruction is $1.1 billion. This is primarily for new

activities, focused on urgent infrastructure repairs, especially in the energy and agricultural

sectors; critical health care; governance; and security.

The Department of Homeland Security has temporarily halted the deportation of Haitians and

granted Temporary Protected Status for 18 months to Haitian nationals in the United States as of

January 12, 2010. Congressional concerns include budget priorities and oversight, burdensharing, immigration, tax incentives for charitable donations, trade preferences for Haiti, and

helping constituents with adoptions and other issues. Several congressional committees have held

hearings on Haiti. The focus of this report is on the immediate crisis in Haiti as a result of the

earthquake, the U.S. and international response to date, and long-term implications of the

earthquake. Related legislation includes P.L. 111-117, P.L. 111-126, P.L. 111-158,H.R. 144, H.R.

264, H.R. 417. H.R. 1567, H.R. 3077, H.R. 4206, H.R. 4577, H.R. 4616, H.R. 4952, H.R. 4961,

H.R. 5006, H.R. 5160, H.R. 5171, S. 2949, S. 2961, and S. 2978, S. 2998, S. 3202, S. 3275, and

S. 3317.

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Contents

Recent Developments..................................................................................................................1

Current Conditions......................................................................................................................1

Preliminary Numbers at a Glance ..........................................................................................3

Haitian Government Response ....................................................................................................4

The Government’s New Action Plan......................................................................................6

Extra-Constitutional Rule Begins after May 10......................................................................7

U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) ......................................................................7

Humanitarian Relief Operation.................................................................................................. 11

Overall Status of the Relief Effort ....................................................................................... 11

United Nations Humanitarian Response .............................................................................. 12

Humanitarian Relief Sectors: Recent Developments ............................................................ 13

Haiti’s Humanitarian Needs in Context................................................................................ 15

Other Humanitarian Actors.................................................................................................. 16

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance ............................................................................................. 17

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti FY2009-FY2011, Prior to the Earthquake .......... 17

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti following the Earthquake ................................... 17

FY2010 Supplemental Humanitarian Relief Funding for Haiti....................................... 18

USAID ......................................................................................................................... 18

Department of Defense: Operation Unified Response .................................................... 19

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).................................................................... 20

Overall U.S. FY2010 Assistance ......................................................................................... 21

FY2010 Supplemental Funding Request for Haiti.......................................................... 21

International Humanitarian Funding .......................................................................................... 21

U.N. Consolidated Appeals Process..................................................................................... 21

Other Pledges and Contributions ......................................................................................... 22

Donor Contributions and Pledges ........................................................................................ 22

Private Contributions .......................................................................................................... 23

Recovery Planning among Donors and Haiti ....................................................................... 23

The Role of the United Nations and Other Organizations..................................................... 24

Response of International Financial Institutions......................................................................... 25

Multilateral Lending ........................................................................................................... 25

World Bank................................................................................................................... 25

Inter-American Development Bank ............................................................................... 25

International Monetary Fund ......................................................................................... 26

Debt Relief Prior to the Earthquake..................................................................................... 26

World Bank................................................................................................................... 26

Bilateral Creditors......................................................................................................... 26

Debt Relief Since the Earthquake ........................................................................................ 27

Inter-American Development Bank ............................................................................... 27

World Bank................................................................................................................... 27

International Fund for Agriculture and Development ..................................................... 27

International Monetary Fund ......................................................................................... 28

The IMF and Haiti’s Financial Sector .................................................................................. 28

Debt Relief in the FY2010 Supplemental Funding Request ................................................. 28

Regional Response.................................................................................................................... 29

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Political and Economic Situation in Haiti .................................................................................. 29

Conditions in Haiti Before the Earthquake........................................................................... 29

Political Conditions............................................................................................................. 30

The National Assembly and the Question of 2010 Elections .......................................... 31

Socioeconomic Conditions Prior to the Earthquake ....................................................... 31

Long-term Reconstruction Strategy ........................................................................................... 32

Review of Haiti’s Development Strategy ............................................................................. 32

Principles of Assistance for the Reconstruction of Haiti....................................................... 33

Select Issues to be Addressed in the Long-term Reconstruction Strategy.............................. 34

Agricultural Capacity and the Environment ................................................................... 34

Decentralization of Population and Services .................................................................. 34

Education...................................................................................................................... 35

Energy .......................................................................................................................... 35

Health Care................................................................................................................... 35

Job Creation.................................................................................................................. 36

Trade and Exports ......................................................................................................... 36

Recovery and Reconstruction Funding in the FY2010 Supplemental Request ...................... 36

Congressional Concerns ............................................................................................................ 36

FY2010 Supplemental Funding Request for Haiti................................................................ 37

Budget Priorities ................................................................................................................. 38

Burdensharing and Donor Fatigue ....................................................................................... 38

Coordinating the Relief Response in Haiti ........................................................................... 39

Elections in Haiti ................................................................................................................ 39

Immigration, Adoption........................................................................................................ 40

Medical Evacuation ............................................................................................................ 41

Tax Incentives for Charitable Donations .............................................................................. 43

Trade Preferences................................................................................................................ 43

Constituent Concerns .......................................................................................................... 44

Legislation in the 111th Congress ............................................................................................... 44

Figures

Figure 1. Haiti Earthquake Epicenter ......................................................................................... 10

Figure A-1. An Estimate of the Population in Haiti and Surrounding Areas Exposed to

Ground Shaking Caused by the January 12, 2010, Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake......................... 51

Figure B-1. Movement Out of Port-au-Prince ............................................................................ 53

Figure C-1. Click and type title, or delete ................................................................................. 54

Figure D-1. USG Humanitarian Assistance................................................................................ 55

Tables

Table 1. U.S. Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti FY2009-FY2011 .............................................. 17

Table 2. FY2010 Humanitarian Funding Provided to Haiti for the Earthquake ($US)................. 18

Table G-1. Regional Donors to Haiti Relief Efforts.................................................................... 64

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Appendixes

Appendix A. Exposed Population .............................................................................................. 51

Appendix B. Haiti Population Movement .................................................................................. 53

Appendix C. Emergency Shelter Gap: April 19, 2010 ................................................................ 54

Appendix D. U.S. Earthquake Assistance to Haiti...................................................................... 55

Appendix E. The U.S. Government Emergency Response Mechanism for International

Disasters ................................................................................................................................ 56

Appendix F. Operation Unified Response: U.S. Military Units Participating .............................. 58

Appendix G. Donor Contributions and Pledges to Haiti in Response to the January 12,

2010, Earthquake ................................................................................................................... 59

Appendix H. How to Search for or Report on Individuals in Haiti ............................................. 67

Appendix I. How to Contribute to Relief Efforts........................................................................ 70

Appendix J. Links for Further Information ................................................................................ 71

Contacts

Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 74

Key Policy Staff........................................................................................................................ 75

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Recent Developments

•

A major global donors’ conference was held March 31, 2010, in New York.

Donors pledged over $5 billion for the first 18 months of Haiti’s reconstruction.

The United States pledged $1.2 billion.

•

The Haitian government presented an action plan for reconstruction and

development, and a Post Disaster Needs Assessment that estimated the total value

of recovery and reconstruction needs to be $11.5 billion.

•

The Obama Administration requested $2.8 billion in FY2010 supplemental

funding for relief and reconstruction support for Haiti.

•

Extra-constitutional rule will begin after May 10, when most parliamentarians’

terms expire; President Préval will probably rule by decree after that. Haiti

passed a State of Emergency Law on April 20 giving the President broad powers.

The international community is urging Haiti to hold legislative and presidential

elections in November 2010.

•

Humanitarian assistance is focused on providing waterproof emergency shelter,

improving sanitation and meeting the basic needs of the displaced and other

vulnerable Haitians. The relief effort is expected to last for many months.

•

Most U.S. military forces will withdraw from Haiti by about June 1, 2010.

Current Conditions

The largest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti devastated parts of the country, including the

capital, on January 12, 2010. The quake, centered about 15 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince,

had a magnitude of 7.0. A series of strong aftershocks have followed.1 The damage was severe

and catastrophic. Thousands of buildings collapsed, leaving unknown numbers of people trapped,

and hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the streets. Estimates of casualties are

constantly being updated. According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, “[o]f Haiti’s

9 million people, initial reports suggest roughly a third may be affected by the disaster.”2

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) issued a study on February 11 estimating the

damage caused by the earthquake to be at least $8 billion, and as high as $14 billion. 3 One of the

report’s authors, economist Andrew Powell, said that, “This disaster, given the size of Haiti ... is

the most devastating catastrophe that a country has experienced possibly ever.”4 The report

compared the damage to other catastrophes, finding, for example, that the earthquake’s damage

U.S. Geological Survey http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010rja6.php, January 13,

2010. The largest earthquake ever recorded was the 9.5 magnitude 1960 Chile earthquake, see

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/historical_mag.php.

United Nations, Secretary-General, Briefing General Assembly on Haiti Disaster, Announces Release of $10 million

in emergency Funds to Kick-Start Response, SG/SM/12701; GA/10912, New York, NY, January 13, 2010.

Eduardo A. Cavallo, Andrew Powell, and Oscar Becerra, Estimating the direct economic damage of the Earthquake

in Haiti, Inter-American Development Bank, February 11, 2010, available at http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/

getdocument.aspx?docnum=35072649.

Mary Beth Sheridan, “Haiti earthquake damage estimated up to $14 billion,” Washington Post, February 17, 2010.

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amounted to 117% of Haiti’s annual economic output, while the 2004 tsunami damage amounted

to 2% of Indonesia’s annual economic output. The Haiti Post Disaster Needs Assessment,

conducted by Haiti and international institutions, reported similar findings, estimating the total

value of recovery and reconstruction needs to be $11.5 billion.5

All of this damage was sustained in a country that the United Nations had already designated as

one of the 50 “least developed countries” in the world, facing a higher risk than other countries of

failing to come out of poverty, and therefore needing the highest degree of attention from the

international community.6

Recovery efforts have been made extremely difficult by the loss of personnel and infrastructure

that would be part of a recovery effort. Among the missing and dead were Haitian government

officials and international aid personnel, including many U.N. personnel. Housing, hospitals,

schools, and many government buildings collapsed. Basic services such as electricity and water

were almost completely disrupted. Major transportation routes were damaged and/or blocked.

The Port-au-Prince airport control tower was destroyed; the airport continued to function, and air

traffic control authority was quickly transferred to U.S. personnel with portable radar. On

February 18, commercial air traffic in and out of Port-au-Prince resumed. As of early March,

relief flights into Haiti had dropped from a peak of 160 flights per day to an average of 75. The

main port suffered heavy damage; U.S. troops are repairing the port facilities. The port is

expected to handle 1,500 containers of relief supplies once it is fully repaired. The use of airfields

and ports in the Dominican Republic, with humanitarian corridors over land, have also eased the

burden on Haitian facilities.

Haitian government officials continue to function in makeshift conditions. The roof of the

Presidential Palace collapsed and the President’s private residence was also destroyed. President

Préval was initially unable to communicate with his Cabinet and has been working out of a small

room in a police headquarters. The Parliament building collapsed, with some Members trapped

inside and others killed. The Parliament has convened in the National Police Academy. Twentyeight of 29 Ministry buildings were destroyed.

The United Nations, which already had a strong presence in Haiti, is at the forefront of on-theground response for security and humanitarian assistance, and suffered heavy losses as well. Its

headquarters collapsed, and 101 U.N. personnel are confirmed dead and 6 others remain

unaccounted for. The head of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Special

Representative Hedi Annabi, and his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa, were among the dead. U.N.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent Assistant Secretary General Edmond Mulet to Haiti on

January 13 to direct the U.N.’s immediate response efforts; Mulet is a former Special

Representative of the Secretary General for MINUSTAH.

Prior to the earthquake, the international community was providing extensive development and

humanitarian assistance to Haiti. With that assistance, the Haitian government had made

Government of Haiti, the United Nations, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World

Bank, “Haiti Post Disaster Needs Assessment: draft executive summary,” March 10, 2010. Available at

http://www.haitisantodomingo2010.org/hsd2010/content/documents; and World Bank, Haiti Damage and Need

Assessment: World Bank Partners with Global Network of Scientists and Experts, Press Release No. 2010/240/LCR,

Washington, DC, January 26, 2010.

United Nations Office for Least Developed Countries. Facts About Least Developed Countries (LDCs) available at

http://www.unohrlls.org/UserFiles/File/Publications/Factsheet.pdf, accessed January 15, 2010.

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significant progress in recent years in many areas of its development strategy, including security;

judicial reform; macroeconomic management; procurement processes and fiscal transparency;

increased voter registration; and jobs creation. It had also made progress in providing broader

access to clean water and other services. Parliamentary elections scheduled for February 2010

have been delayed. There is tentative agreement that Haiti will hold joint parliamentary and

presidential elections in November 2010. President Préval’s term will end in February 2011, and

he is not eligible to run for reelection.

The destruction of Haiti’s nascent infrastructure and other extensive damage caused by January’s

earthquake will set back Haiti’s development significantly. U.N. Special Envoy and former

President Bill Clinton said that Haiti’s long-term development plans “will need to be amended ...

but they cannot be abandoned.”7 Soon after the earthquake, the government of Haiti and the

international donor community held meetings and conferences to begin planning a long-term

strategy for Haitian recovery.

A major global donors’ conference was held March 31, 2010, in New York at which 48 countries,

multilateral institutions, and a coalition of non-governmental organizations pledged $5.3 billion

for the first 18 months of Haiti’s reconstruction, part of nearly $10 billion pledged toward longterm reconstruction efforts. The IDB damage assessment stated that donor coordination will be

key in any reconstruction effort. The report further noted that there are different models for

coordination, but that however it is coordinated, “[a] single executing agency with appropriate

powers, transparency and accountability to the Haitian Government and donors would be helpful”

in achieving the needed coordination on the ground.8 To that end, Haiti and the international

donor community have established a Multi-Donor Trust Fund to monitor, coordinate, and

distribute funds.

The Obama Administration is requesting $2.8 billion in FY2010 supplemental funding to cover

costs associated with relief and reconstruction support for Haiti. The U.S. pledge of $1.2 billion

made at the donors conference is included in that request.

Preliminary Numbers at a Glance

It is estimated that 3 million people, approximately one-third of the overall population, have been

affected by the earthquake. The government of Haiti is reporting an estimated 230,000 deaths

(2% of the population), 300,600 injured and 383 missing.9 Earlier reports indicated there were 1.2

million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which included 700,000 people displaced in the

Port-au-Prince area, many without shelter, and more than 597,000 people who left Port-au-Prince

for rural areas.10 More recent numbers indicate a higher number of IDPs with a possible total of

over 2 million displaced in Haiti. This number includes 1.69 million displaced in settlements in

Port-au-Prince and more than 300,000 in areas outside the city. Much smaller numbers of

Haitians have left for the Dominican Republic, nearby islands, and the United States.

Bill Clinton, “How We Can Help Rebuild Haiti’s Promise,” The Washington Post, January 14, 2010.

Cavallo et al., op. cit., pp. 11-12.

Estimates of the death toll vary; most reports now indicate 200,000 or more dead.

Initially, the government of Haiti facilitated the departure of several hundred thousand people from Port-au-Prince to

outlying areas. An unknown number of individuals may have used private means to leave the city and seek shelter.

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According to the State Department, a total of 16,000 Americans in Haiti have been accounted for,

and 16,704 U.S. citizens have been evacuated. There are 103 reported deaths of U.S. citizens due

to the earthquake. Now that commercial airlines are operating out of Port-au-Prince, the U.S.

embassy is no longer assisting with citizen evacuations.

Aftershocks Pose Future Risk

A series of aftershocks has followed the main January 12 earthquake. In a February 23, 2010 statement, the USGS

indicated that the frequency of aftershocks should diminish with time, but the threat of additional damaging

earthquakes remains. The USGS noted that buildings in the Port-au-Prince area will continue to be at risk from strong

earthquake shaking, and that the fault responsible for the January 12 earthquake still stores sufficient strain to be

released as a large, damaging earthquake during the lifetime of structures built during the reconstruction effort. The

USGS gave the following probabilities for aftershock activity in Haiti:

•

magnitude 5 or greater earthquake = 90% probability over 1 year, 80% over 90 days, 55% over 30 days;

•

magnitude 6 or greater earthquake = 25% probability over 1 year, 15% over 90 days, 7% over 30 days;

•

magnitude 7 or greater earthquake = 3% probability over 1 year, 2% over 90 days, 1% over 30 days.

The USGS based its probability estimates on techniques developed to assess earthquake hazards in the United States.

Using these techniques, the USGS estimated that the probability of a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake occurring

within the next 50 years along the Enriquillo fault near Port-au-Prince is between 5% and 15%. The range of

probabilities reflects the current understanding of the seismicity and tectonics of the Haiti region. By comparison, the

USGS has estimated that that the probability of a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake occurring within the next 50

years along the Hayward-Rodgers Creek fault east of San Francisco is about 15%.

The USGS further asserted that the risk to new construction in Haiti from future aftershocks and strong earthquakes

can be minimized through the use of earthquake-resistant design and construction practices. Tailoring the design to

match the earthquake hazard likely requires applying results from a comprehensive earthquake hazard assessment,

which currently does not exist for Haiti. This is further complicated by the need for buildings to withstand high winds

from hurricanes, which are a more frequent hazard to Haiti than earthquakes. Constructing buildings that are both

hurricane and earthquake resistant could pose a challenge to short- and long-term rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

Building construction is very important to earthquake resilience. For example, the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that

struck Chile on February 27, 2010, caused only a fraction of the fatalities caused by the Haiti earthquake, in part due

to the greater prevalence of earthquake-resistant buildings in Chile.

Despite the occurrence of two devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile within less than two months of each other,

worldwide earthquake activity in 2010 is not particularly unusual compared to other years. The USGS reported that

an average of 16 magnitude 7 or greater—defined as major—earthquakes have occurred each year since 1900, with

some years showing considerable variation. Six major earthquakes have occurred worldwide in 2010 thus far, well

within the normal range according to the USGS.

Sources: USGS statement, “USGS Updates Assessment of Earthquake Hazard and Safety in Haiti and the Caribbean,”

February 23, 2010, at http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2413&from=rss_home; and USGS release. “Is

Recent Earthquake Activity Unusual? Scientists Say No,” April 14, 2010, at http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?

ID=2439.

Haitian Government Response

In the immediate wake of the earthquake, President Préval described conditions in his country as

“unimaginable,” and appealed for international assistance. The country’s top priority was to

conduct search and rescue operations for survivors. Other material priorities included an offshore

vessel medical unit and electricity generation capability. The government also requested

communications equipment so that government officials could better function and coordinate

response efforts. As those immediate needs are met and the humanitarian relief operation

continues, the government is struggling to restore the institutions needed for it to function and to

address long-term reconstruction and development planning. “The first thing is political stability,”

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said Préval. “Secondly, we hope the international community will help us in the short-term, midterm, and long-term.”11

Prior to this disaster, the World Bank and others were working with the Haitian government to

incorporate disaster risk management into Haiti’s overall development strategy and to develop its

capacity for disaster response. The capacity was still in its early stages, however, and the focus of

much of its risk management efforts was not geared toward earthquakes, but toward hurricanes,

which are the most common cause of natural disasters on the island. The last major earthquake in

Haiti was 150 years ago, in 1860.

Some Haitians complain that they have seen or heard little of President Préval since the

earthquake. The perception that the Haitian government was not doing enough contributed to

calls by some Haitians, both in Haiti and the United States, for the United States to take control of

Haiti in place of the current government in the days following the disaster.

The destruction of buildings, equipment, and loss of skilled personnel has drastically reduced the

ability of the government to respond rapidly. According to the Haitian Chamber of Commerce,

the earthquake destroyed approximately 25,000 public and commercial buildings. Twenty-one out

of 22 Ministry buildings were destroyed. Along with the buildings, government records were

destroyed; re-establishing and expanding transparency in government spending will be

particularly challenging. These losses, plus the difficulty of delivering and transporting material

supplies, will hinder delivery of services. The already significant need for services is now vastly

expanded.

Haitian ministries are addressing issues such as long-term housing for those left homeless by the

earthquake as they operate out of makeshift offices. Haitian authorities and international relief

agencies are delivering food and water to hundreds of makeshift camps in Port-au-Prince. The

government provided free transportation to evacuate people from the capital to cities not damaged

by the earthquake. Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime indicated that as many as 482,000

people may be relocated outside Port-au-Prince. 12 The Haitian government is sending officials to

small cities to help officials in those communities establish priorities.

Other elements of the government are working along with international actors. The Haitian

National Police are contributing to maintaining security, for example, and Haitian air traffic

controllers are working along with U.S. controllers at the Port-au-Prince airport.

The Haitian government, the United Nations, and donor representatives met in Haiti on January

14 to coordinate their efforts, and have continued to do so at various conferences. Eighteen

Haitian senators elected two commissions on January 28 to monitor aid and manage agreements

with aid organizations.

Jacqueline Charles and Lydia Martin, “Without even a shirt, Rene Preval stays focused; President Rene Preval no

longer has a palace or more than one borrowed shirt. But he survived the quake and is running his nation from a small

room,” The Miami Herald, January 20, 2010.

Jacqueline Charles, Lesley Clark, and David Ovalle, et al., “Relief Efforts turn to long-term rebuilding,” The Miami

Herald, January 21, 2010.

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The Government’s New Action Plan

President Préval and Prime Minister Bellerive went to the March 31 international

donors’conference with a 10-year recovery action plan. According to the Haiti Post Disaster

Needs Assessment conducted by Haiti and international institutions, the total value of recovery

and reconstruction needs is $11.5 billion.13 At the conference The Préval Administration sought a

minimum of $3.9 billion for the first 18 months of Haiti’s reconstruction.

The priorities the Haitian government established in the “Action Plan for the Reconstruction and

National Development of Haiti”14 are:

•

ensuring preparedness for the 2010 rainy and hurricane seasons, especially for

displaced populations;

•

providing assistance to the population affected by the earthquake while hastening

recovery efforts with an eye to reducing dependence on foreign aid;

•

including environmental factors and risk and disaster management in all recovery

and reconstruction activities;

•

actively providing employment and vocational training;

•

strengthening governmental authority while also decentralizing basic services,

creating a social safety net for the poorest population; and

•

creating growth poles to support and encourage settlement of displaced

populations around the country and to make Port-au-Prince less congested.

Haitian government officials see the earthquake’s devastation in Port-au-Prince as an opportunity

to establish a more sustainable distribution of population elsewhere in the country. Bellerive has

asked international donors to aid in a massive revival of agriculture, in order to provide jobs and

keep relocated Haitians in the provinces. 15

Some observers have questioned whether historical and current allegations of various levels of

corruption in the Haitian government may impair short- and long-term recovery efforts.16 The

government of Haiti made major progress in recent years in reducing corruption, increasing

transparency, and improving fiscal management. These improvements qualified Haiti for Heavily

Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) debt relief last year. In its new Action Plan, the government said

Government of Haiti, the United Nations, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the

World Bank, “Haiti Post Disaster Needs Assessment: draft executive summary,” March 10, 2010. Available at

http://www.haitisantodomingo2010.org/hsd2010/content/documents; and World Bank, Haiti Damage and Need

Assessment: World Bank Partners with Global Network of Scientists and Experts, Press Release No. 2010/240/LCR,

Washington, DC, January 26, 2010.

Republic of Haiti, “Action Plan for the Reconstruction and National Development of Haiti,” March 2010, available at

http://www.haitisantodomingo2010.org/hsd2010/content/documents.

Tim Padgett, “Haiti PM: We Can Rise Out of Our Postquake Squalor,” Time, February 22, 2010. Haiti’s “Action

Plan for the Reconstruction and National Development of Haiti” is available at http://www.haitisantodomingo2010.org/

hsd2010/content/documents.

University of Colorado at Boulder, “Industry Corruption, Shoddy Construction Likely Contributed to Haiti Quake

Devastation,” E Science News, January 14, 2010; Senator Loren Legarda, “Commentary: Earthquake Devastation

Linked to Corruption,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 25, 2010; “Will Endemic Corruption Suck Away Aid to

Haitians?” Reuters, January 26, 2010.

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the momentum of those programs must continue, and proposed the Interim Commission for the

Reconstruction of Haiti, a Development Agency, and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund to improve

development planning, coordination, and accountability. New concerns about transparency and

oversight may also arise as the legislature ceases to function as a whole because elections have

not been held. Normally, the legislature must approve federal procurement contracts, and

authorize spending. Under a State of Emergency law passed by the legislature in April, the

executive branch will have those powers for the next 18 months.

Extra-Constitutional Rule Begins after May 10

Haiti passed a State of Emergency Law on April 20 giving the President broad powers.

The terms of all of the Chamber of Deputies, and of one-third of the Senate, will expire

on May 10. How the government will function after that is not entirely clear. President

Préval will probably rule by decree. The remaining 19 Senators may continue to meet,

however, and the Senate has the power to dismiss the Prime Minister and censure

government programs. As a result, political tensions are likely to increase. The

international community is urging Haiti to hold legislative and presidential elections in

November 2010. Préval has promised to step down when his term expires on February 7,

2011.

U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)17

The U.N. Security Council created the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) on April

30, 2004, having determined that the situation in Haiti continued to be a threat to international

peace and security in the region and acting under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter. As a U.N.conducted peacekeeping operation, MINUSTAH was given a mandate under three broad areas: a

secure and stable environment, the political process, and human rights. On October 13, 2009, the

Council extended its mandate until October 15, 2010, “with the intention of further renewal.” The

Council monitors the activities of MINUSTAH through semiannual reports made by the U.N.

Secretary-General and his special representative, and also not later than 45 days before expiration

of its mandate.

On January 19, 2010, the U.N. Security Council increased the overall force levels of MINUSTAH

“to support the immediate recovery, reconstruction and stability efforts.” The Council decided

that “MINUSTAH will consist of a military component of up to 8,940 troops of all ranks and of a

police component of up to 3,711 police and that it will keep the new levels of troops and police in

MINUSTAH under review as necessary.”18 The limits had been set at 6,940 for the military

component and 2,211 for the police component. As of April 13, 2010, the military component of

MINUSTAH totaled 8,306 troops, including four engineering companies, and 2,178 police

officers.19

Prepared by (name redacted), CRS Specialist in International Relations, and (name redacted), CRS Specialist

in International Humanitarian Policy, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.

The Council resolution that created MINUSTAH is S/RES/1542 (2004). The resolution extending the mandate in

October 2009 is S/RES/1892 (2009). The resolution adopted unanimously on January 19, 2010, is S/RES/1908 (2010).

These figures are taken from the Secretary-General’s April 2010 report to the Council; the police component

consisted of 828 U.N. police and 1,350 formed police unit officers. Additional police from Bangladesh, Italy and India

are expected in the coming weeks. See U.N. document S/2010/200, p. 9, para. 32.

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On April 28, 2010, the U.N. Security Council met to consider the situation in Haiti, especially the

April 2010 report of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on MINUSTAH.20 This was his first report

since September 1, 2009 and covered up to April 15, 2010, with a focus on events since the

earthquake. Ban noted, in his report,

that his Special Representative will continue to oversee the activities of the whole United

Nations system and, within means and capabilities, ensure the full support of the

MINUSTAH military, police and logistics components to humanitarian and recovery efforts.

Ban proposed that MINUSTAH “assume the lead role in coordinating international electoral

assistance in order to ensure its efficiency and avoid the duplication of efforts.” Ban observed that

a “major focus of effort will be timely preparations for the 2010 presidential, legislative and

municipal elections.” 21 In addition, he stated that MINUSTAH “will reconfigure the military

component within the existing troop ceiling to provide additional military engineers on a surge

basis.”22 Ban also recommended that the Council increase the MINUSTAH police component,

adding 680 police personnel to the force levels already authorized by the Council in January

2010.23 As of May 3, 2010, the Council has not acted in response to the report of the SecretaryGeneral.

The headquarters of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was demolished in the

earthquake, with 101 U.N. staff confirmed dead. These included the Special Representative of the

Secretary-General and Head of MINUSTAH Hedi Annabi and his Deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa.

On March 31, 2010, Secretary-General Ban announced the appointment of Edmond Mulet, as his

Special Representative (SRSG) for Haiti and Head of MINUSTAH. Since January 14, 2010, Mr.

Mulet had been acting SRSG and Head of MINUSTAH.24 On April 29, 2010, Ban announced the

appointment of Kevin Kennedy (United States) as Deputy Special Representative for Haiti and

Deputy Head of MINUSTAH, succeeding Mr. da Costa, and Nigel Fisher (Canada) as Deputy

Special Representative, Ad Interim, for Haiti, succeeding Kim Bolduc (Canada).

On March 24, 2010, President Obama, in a supplemental budget request to Congress on Haiti,

requested in the State Department’s Contributions to International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA)

account a total of $96.5 million for U.S. assessed contributions to MINUSTAH. This was to fund

the increase in assessments resulting from the Security Council’s increase in force levels on

January 19, 2010. The March 24 supplemental request also included, under Foreign Operations,

in the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Affairs (INCLE) account,

$45,000,000 to support U.S. personnel to MINUSTAH: the “secondment of 50 police advisers,

Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, U.N. document [dated April

22, 2010] S/2010/200.

S/2010/200, p. 14, para. 55. The legislative elections that had been scheduled for February 2010 had been postponed.

S/2010/200, p. 14, para. 57.

S/2010/200, p. 15, paras. 60-62. Ban’s increase would “represent 200 United Nations police and three self-sustaining

formed police units.” According to the U.N. peacekeeping website, “A Formed Police Unit is a cohesive and trained

team of 140 armed and well-equipped (for crowd control) police officers.” See http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/

sites/police/policework.shtml.

Mr. Mulet was Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Operations, in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He

had preceded Mr. Annabi as SRSG for Haiti. On January 22, 2010, the United States and MINUSTAH had signed an

agreement, clarifying their roles and responsibilities in coordinating international relief efforts with the government of

Haiti.

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five corrections advisers, and one drug specialist.” These funds would increase the U.S. police

and corrections officer contribution to MINUSTAH from 50 and 5 to 80 and 10, respectively.25

U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development. FY2010 Haiti Supplemental Budget

Justification. p. 44. This “peacekeeping” portion of the [total $143,489,000] request[ed] for the INCLE account would

also pay for the construction of a temporary camp for the U.S. contingent and enough supplies to make them selfsustaining. U.S. assistance would also provide for the procurement of emergency supplies, replacement uniforms and

equipment lost as a result of the earthquake, and purchase additional equipment needed to support an increased

personnel contribution to MINUSTAH. Finally, the funds would support the training and equipping of a Formed Police

Unit for the MINUSTAH mission in the areas of crowd/riot control and protection of U.N. facilities and personnel.

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Figure 1. Haiti Earthquake Epicenter

CRS-10

Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response

Humanitarian Relief Operation

Overall Status of the Relief Effort

Experts break relief operations into several phases: search and rescue; treatment and survival;

relocation and rehabilitation; early recovery; and long-term reconstruction. As with any

significant natural disaster that has many moving parts, it can take days to get a relief effort

underway. Delays in transportation and congestion, lack of transportation infrastructure,

bureaucratic problems, and lack of access all can cause bottlenecks at key points in the system.

While timing is critical to save lives, to enable a network of this size to function efficiently

requires the coordination of assessments and appropriate responses with the government, local

communities, and the international community.

The sheer scale of the relief effort in Haiti has brought together tremendous capacity and

willingness to help, but an ongoing effort and strategic planning is required at each phase to work

out coordination and logistics issues. The massive humanitarian relief operation underway was

hampered by a number of significant challenges, including a general lack of transportation,

extremely limited communications systems, and damaged infrastructure. In many parts of Portau-Prince, roads were ruptured or blocked by collapsed buildings, debris, bodies, and people

seeking open space. Working conditions remain hugely challenging for aid personnel.

Humanitarian supplies are coming in to Haiti via Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, Dominican

Republic. The airport in the Dominican Republic is also being used as a humanitarian staging

area to help with the coordination effort and allow for relief teams and supplies to get to Haiti by

land.

Challenges consistent with a response to a disaster of this scope continue. In the first two weeks

following the earthquake, priorities were focused on (1) search and rescue assistance, including

teams with heavy-lift equipment and medical assistance and supplies; (2) addressing a critical

need for food, clean water and sanitation, medical assistance, and emergency shelter; and (3)

setting up key infrastructure and logistics operations. Three months after the disaster, the relief

effort remains an immediate and critical priority amid plans under discussion for early recovery

and reconstruction. There are concerns about security and potential for looting and violence, but

according to the United Nations, the overall situation remains calm and stable, with some

incidences of looting and criminality. However, 5,000 or so prison inmates escaped the National

Penitentiary and other jails in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake (with some re-apprehended)

and the whereabouts of the others is unknown, although it is suspected that a significant number

may have retreated to Cite Soleil. Reports of rape cases in camps, roadblocks and fake tolls along

roads, and other possible gang activity related to drugs and other crimes point to involvement by

some of these criminals. U.N. and government officials are urging Haitians to turn in escaped

criminals while also focusing on specific security interventions focused on their recapture.

More in-depth assessments, necessary to obtain a better understanding of the situation on the

ground, continue. The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) a joint effort among

representatives from the Government of Haiti, World Bank, United Nations and other actors, was

completed in time for the March 31 conference in New York. The information is critical for

determining whether personnel are in place with adequate resources, planning recovery and

reconstruction initiatives, developing strategies for the use of funding, and paving the way for

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donor pledges and long-term support. The PDNA and donors conference are discussed later in the

report.

United Nations Humanitarian Response

At the outset of the disaster, the United Nations established Disaster Assessment and

Coordination (UNDAC) and U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

teams.26 The UNDAC team coordinated the Onsite Operations and Coordination Center

(OSOCC). Two sub-OSOCCs were established in Jacmel and Leogane to assist local authorities.

The UNDAC team concluded its work in Haiti in February.

In the weeks following the earthquake, OCHA helped to coordinate the search and rescue teams

and continues to coordinate the assistance effort while focusing on other humanitarian priorities.

In addition to working closely with the government of Haiti, OCHA is the lead agency working

with actors on the ground, coordinating with the military, and enlisting donor support. The

Humanitarian Country Team convened on February 1 and meets twice a week, with at least one of

those meetings co-chaired by a representative from the government of Haiti. In consultation with

MINUSTAH and international military forces, OCHA has developed a Joint Operations Tasking

Centre (JOTC) which began operating on January 26 and focuses on civil-military coordination

and logistics. The OCHA Civil-Military Coordination (CMCoord) team first convened on January

31 and brings together civil-military points of contact from humanitarian organizations,

MINUSTAH, and international military forces. A Debris Management Planning Task Force was

assembled on February 23.

Humanitarian relief sectors are typically established during humanitarian crises to enable the

United Nations to coordinate partners, prioritize resources, and facilitate planning. In Haiti, relief

sectors have been organized into twelve clusters led by various agencies. 27 The clusters include

•

Agriculture (Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO);

•

Camp Coordination and Camp Management (International Organization for

Migration, IOM);

•

Early Recovery (U.N. Development Program, UNDP);

•

Education (U.N. Children’s Fund, UNICEF);

•

Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Items (International Federation of Red Cross

and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC);

•

Emergency Telecommunications (World Food Program, WFP);

•

Food (World Food Program, WFP);

•

Health (World Health Organization, WHO, and Pan American Health

Organization, PAHO).

•

Logistics (WFP);

Kim Bolduc, the U.N. Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator, was deployed to Haiti in November 2009.

The head of each cluster (indicated in parentheses) reports to the Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and works in

partnership with all relevant actors in that particular sector. The clusters meet at least once daily.

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•

Nutrition (UNICEF);

•

Protection (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR), with

Child Protection (UNICEF);

Gender Based Violence (U.N. Population Fund, UNFPA);

•

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (UNICEF).

Initially, there were criticisms of the slow initial response by the humanitarian aid community to

the crisis. In recent press conferences, the United Nations has stated the cluster system appears to

be working well, but others suggest that some clusters appear to be doing better than others.

Cluster arrangements have also been established in Leogane, Jacmel, and Gonaives. The cluster

set up in the Dominican Republic was dissolved on April 13.

Humanitarian Relief Sectors: Recent Developments28

•

Emergency Shelter: After the earthquake struck, people began gathering

spontaneously in open spaces in Port-au-Prince. It was estimated that there were

500 or more makeshift camp sites with a combined total of more than 700,000

people. Aid workers are delivering basic necessities to areas with population

concentrations. Emergency shelter was in very short supply. Reports indicate that

97,000 houses were destroyed and 188,000 sustained damage. It is estimated that

1.9 million lost their homes.

Approximately 597,000 people were initially reported to have relocated in

departments outside the city, with the highest number concentrated in Artibonite

Department. Reports indicated that a number of areas saw increases of 15%-20%

in the population. Ninety percent of the new arrivals were staying with host

families. Reportedly, prices of basic commodities increased. See the maps in

Appendix B and Appendix C.

In early April, the estimated number of displaced was adjusted, with an increase

in the number of IDPs in Port-au-Prince to 1.69 million and IDPs displaced in

areas outside the city appearing to decrease to 300,000. The adjustment may in

part reflect more accurate numbers as a result of IDP registrations. It may also

reflect a “pull factor” where those who left Port-au-Prince initially are now

returning to the capitol as services improve and recovery gets underway.

The United Nations reports that 86% of the known caseload of IDPs have been

reached with emergency shelter materials. As the rainy season begins, there

remain concerns about whether there is sufficient waterproof emergency shelter,

the need to move people from unsafe settlements, and ongoing challenges to

improve sanitation. In addition, houses and buildings weakened by the

earthquake could collapse or slide in wet conditions, adding to the 65 million

tons of rubble needing to be removed. Finding space to shelter the displaced

remains an issue.

Information derived from a variety of sources, including USAID/OFDA, Haiti-Earthquake, Fact Sheet #13, FY2010

January 25, 2010; Pan American Health Organization, Emergency Operations Center Situation Report #12 Haiti

Earthquake, January 25, 2010; OCHA, Haiti Earthquake, Situation Report #13, January 25, 2010.

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For those living in unsafe areas, the International Organization for Migration

(IOM) has identified several options: (1) return to the permanent home if the

structure is considered safe; (2) return to home area to a temporary shelter or

proximity site; (3) seek accommodation with host communities—usually

relatives or friends; (4) relocate to a new site. The first phase of humanitarian

relocations for vulnerable families living in high-risk displacement sites was

completed at the end of April, with more than 1,750 families moving to two

temporary relocation sites at the edge of Port-au-Prince. Another plot in Corail

Cesselesse (Port-au-Prince) has received over 3,000 people.

IOM also reported that an estimated 49% of IDPs in the Port-au-Prince area were

renters prior to the earthquake and 37% owned their own homes (14% did not

identify their status.) Providing sustainable, long-term shelter to renters may be

more problematic as renters do not own land for shelter installation and

landowners may decide not to rebuild rental homes. In addition, owners of

private schools have forced the eviction of those inhabiting their property as they

seek to reopen their schools.

Where to build on a more permanent basis will be a major decision—many of

the poorest people were squatters on land subject to landslides and floods. The

type of structures to be built will also have to be determined as there will be a

need for inexpensive housing that is both earthquake- and hurricane-resistant.

•

Food: Food and water are reaching people every day, but the needs remain

constant. It is estimated that 2 million people in Haiti need regular food aid.

Some areas outside Port-au-Prince that were previously considered food secure

are facing difficulties as prices increase. Supplementary food programs have been

launched for children under 5 and pregnant women in the Port-au-Prince area.

WFP has provided emergency food rations to 3.5 million people since the

earthquake struck.

The heads of three U.N. agencies – WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) formed a

new Task Force for Food Security in Haiti. The task force aims to assist the

Haitian government with the implementation of a coordinated and targeted

immediate and long term food security strategy. It will also work with the

relevant U.N. humanitarian clusters. The WFP is now transitioning to a focus on

long-term food security and investments in human capital programs. As part of

this initiative, it is also rolling out food- and cash-for-work initiatives.

•

Health: Acute respiratory illness is the most commonly reported illness, and in

recent weeks, there have been some possible cases of malaria identified, but

disease remains at baseline rates with none at epidemic levels. The health cluster

is coordinating closely with other clusters on food assistance, shelter, sanitation,

and education to assist the Haitian population. The need for sanitation and

medical assistance remains. Limited follow-up, post-operative care is available

and amputees are among those requiring longer-term assistance.

The government of Haiti has shifted away from emergency services to focus on

primary health care, health centers, and hospitals. The focus of the health cluster

is also on basic primary health care services, such as maternal child health,

rehabilitation services, and chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease,

HIV, and tuberculosis. Vaccination programs are being implemented and a

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targeted immunization program for populations in temporary settlements began

on February 2. The provision of mental health care and psychosocial support to

help survivors deal with trauma is also a recognized priority and organizations

are mobilizing to address this issue.

The identification and collection of mortal remains continues.

•

Logistics: In both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, WFP is heading the incountry Food aid, Logistics and Emergency Telecommunications clusters.

UNHAS is running a twice daily flight from Santa Domingo to Port-au-Prince.

The WFP is prepositioning food and non-food items as well as equipment

throughout Haiti in preparation for the hurricane season.

•

Protection: The sub-cluster is focused on child protection activities in

settlements, orphanages, and hospitals to determine the needs of children and to

provide care to separated and unaccompanied children. Another main priority is

protection of children during the relocation process. With so many people

displaced and in need of protection, general security against crime is a critical

concern. In addition, protection activities are focused on Haitian children

displaced in the Dominican Republic.

•

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH): A water supply strategy is being

planned to phase out water trucking and to develop more sustainable options.

Limited water network capacity remains a challenge. Access to safe drinking

water has improved. Latrine usage and sanitation remain problems at

spontaneous settlements. Increasing sanitation support is a main priority. This is

seen as an important public health issue to avoid spread of disease, particularly

during the rainy season. Plans are underway to increase the provision of water

and sanitation services in communities.

•

Education: Schools in areas unaffected by the earthquake reopened on February

1. Schools continue to open progressively, although the official reopening of

schools was on April 5. Approximately 700 schools have now reopened in Portau-Prince. The United Nations reports that 4,000 students were killed in the

earthquake. It is estimated that 1,300 schools were destroyed and between 2,000

to 4,600 schools were damaged by the earthquake. Temporary schools are being

provided with shelters, safe water, sanitation facilities, and educational materials

for the rainy/hurricane season. Fourteen percent of the population of Haiti is

under 14 years of age.

•

Early Recovery: More than 95,700 people have been employed under UNDP’s

cash-for-work program. Activities include clearance of drainage canals and the

removal of rubble.

Haiti’s Humanitarian Needs in Context

A number of natural disasters have struck Haiti in the last decade (mostly in the form of

hurricanes), prompting the need for international assistance through the United Nations and other

actors. In addition to miscellaneous humanitarian funding provided for general emergency

conditions, specific natural disasters include:

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•

Floods—May 2002

•

Tropical Storm Jeanne/Floods—September 2004

•

Floods—November 2006

•

Hurricane Dean—August 2007

•

Hurricane Felix—September 2007

•

Tropical Storm Noel—October 2007

•

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna—September

2008

•

Haiti Earthquake—January 2010

Disaster risks in Haiti are significant. Experts recognize that finding ways to overcome the cycle

of disaster and develop a disaster response capacity are critical not only to minimize humanitarian

consequences but to sustain reconstruction efforts in the future.

Other Humanitarian Actors

The international community has provided significant humanitarian assistance in response to

these disasters and their ongoing impact.29 The United Nations, along with other partners,

including the United States, has had a strong presence in Haiti, and remains at the forefront of the

current on-the-ground response for humanitarian assistance. Many international actors are

providing humanitarian relief to Haiti, either through financial contributions to the government of

Haiti or aid organizations or by directly providing relief supplies and emergency personnel.

International recovery efforts are typically complex because they require coordination among

numerous different actors and international entities. In the current crisis, apart from U.N.

agencies, those responding to humanitarian crises include international organizations, NGOs,

Private Voluntary Agencies (PVOs), and bilateral and multilateral donors.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is working with

the Haitian Red Cross Society (HRCS) and other national red cross societies, including the

American Red Cross, to provide assistance to earthquake survivors. The IFRC is coordinating

efforts with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is focused on medical

assistance, tracing the missing and helping to restore family links. The ICRC is also helping with

the identification and collection of mortal remains. In recent weeks, ICRC delegates have also

visited 700 or so detainees in detention facilities in Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien.

Representatives of more than 20 national societies gathered in Montreal, Canada in mid February

for a two-day meeting to develop a comprehensive approach with the red cross movement to

Haiti’s needs.

Many international actors have provided humanitarian relief to Haiti, either through financial contributions to the

government of Haiti or aid organizations or by directly providing relief supplies and emergency personnel.

International recovery efforts are typically complex because they require coordination among numerous different

actors, including other governments and international entities. Apart from U.N. agencies, those responding to

humanitarian crises include international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Private Voluntary

Agencies (PVOs), and bilateral and multilateral donors.

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Various international NGOs that were already operating in Haiti before the earthquake mobilized

to respond to the crisis. According to the United Nations, there are reportedly more than 900

NGOs focused on humanitarian relief operating in Haiti. Hundreds of local staff are assisting with

the relief effort.30

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti FY2009-FY2011, Prior to the Earthquake

Prior to the January earthquake, and in response to other natural disasters, the United States was

already providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti (see Table 1 below.)

Table 1. U.S. Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti FY2009-FY2011

Appropriation by year, $ in thousands

FY2009

Actual

FY2010

Estimate

FY2011

Request

TOTAL HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

69,798

45,500

35,500

Public Law 480 (Food Aid)

63,767

45,500

35,500

International Disaster Assistance (IDA)

6,031

—

Source: U.S. Dept. of State, Office of the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, March 4, 2010.

Notes: Figures do not include Department of Defense assistance.

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti following the Earthquake

Following the earthquake, on January 13, 2010, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth H. Merten

issued a disaster declaration, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),

through the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), authorized $50,000 for the initial

implementation of an emergency response program. (See Appendix E for further information

about the U.S. Government humanitarian response mechanism.) The embassy also facilitated the

evacuation of U.S. citizens and issued a travel warning.

The U.S. government immediately set up an interagency task force to coordinate and facilitate the

humanitarian response to the earthquake in Haiti through the Washington, DC-based Response

Management Team (RMT) headed by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),

through the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). In the first three months following the

earthquake, the overall focus of the U.S. government’s response has included search and rescue,

logistics and infrastructure support, provision of assistance, and conducting needs assessments.

On January 14, 2010, President Obama announced $100 million in humanitarian assistance (in

addition to pre-existing funding appropriated for Haiti) to meet the immediate needs on the

The airport in the Dominican Republic has also been used as a humanitarian staging area to help with the

coordination effort and allow for relief teams and supplies to get to Haiti by land through an established U.N.

humanitarian coordinator.

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ground. As of April 30, 2010, USAID reported that the United States has provided more than $1

billion in humanitarian funding for Haiti as follows:

Table 2. FY2010 Humanitarian Funding Provided to Haiti for the Earthquake ($US)

Agency/Account

Amount

USAID/OFDA

382,395,438

USAID/FFP

110,263,500

USAID/OTI

35,000,000

USAID/Haiti

63,391,212

USAID/Dominican Republic

3,000,000

DOD

460,000,000

Total

1,059,050,150

Source: USAID/OFDA, Haiti-Earthquake, Fact Sheet #52, FY2010, April 30, 2010.

FY2010 Supplemental Humanitarian Relief Funding for Haiti

The Administration is requesting a total of $1.5 billion in relief and disaster assistance funding for

Haiti, which would reimburse U.S. government agencies for services provided and for funds

already obligated for ongoing relief activities. The humanitarian relief funding request also covers

other relief-related assistance. The $1.5 billion request includes $350.7 million for USAID

International Disaster Assistance (IDA); $150 million for Agriculture Department emergency

food assistance; $96.5 million for State Department: Contributions to International Peacekeeping

Activities; $655 million for Department of Defense and $45 million for U.S. Coast Guard relief

activities; $220 million for Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants to States

to cover services to Haitian evacuees; and $15 million for Department of Homeland Security

immigration fees.

The activities of two of the key agencies—USAID and DOD—are described briefly below.31

USAID

Within 24 hours of the earthquake, the United States began deploying search and rescue teams

along with support staff, and including search and rescue canines and rescue equipment, from

Fairfax, VA, Los Angeles, and Miami. USAID/OFDA also deployed a 32-member Disaster

Assistance Response Team (DART). The RMT (mentioned above) supported the USAID/DART,

which focused on assessing humanitarian needs, positioning emergency relief supplies, and

coordinating assistance with the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the government of Haiti, and the

international community. USAID personnel have been active in the following U.N. clusters:

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; Emergency Food Assistance and Food Security Planning;

Logistics; Health; and Shelter, and Protection. USAID/OFDA issues regular situation reports

Other agencies responding to the crisis include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Health and

Human Services (HHS), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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assessing the progress of relief operations.32 See map in Appendix D. On April 25, the

USAID/DART transitioned to the USAID/OFDA Program Office.

Department of Defense: Operation Unified Response33

In response to the crisis in Haiti, the Department of Defense (DOD) deployed a broad range of

military assets in Operation Unified Response to support U.S. and international assistance efforts.

On February 1, 2010, Admiral Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that “We will

remain in Haiti just as long as we are needed. At the request of the Haitian government and in

partnership with the U.N. and international community, we will continue to do all that is required

to alleviate suffering there.” (See Appendix F for further information on the military units

participating in Operation Unified Response.) At the peak of operations, DOD had deployed over

22,000 personnel, 15 Navy and Coast Guard vessels, and 58 aircraft to Haiti, including 7,000

ground troops. Currently, 1,000 soldiers remain ashore in Haiti and will remain through May,

when they will be replaced with 500 Louisiana National Guard troops dedicated to reconstruction

efforts. The USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, will remain in the region through the

upcoming hurricane season.

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), located in Miami, oversaw the Department’s response

efforts, and U.S. Northern Command detailed over 100 disaster recovery specialists to Operation

Unified Response. SOUTHCOM is well-experienced in this type of operation, having supported

14 relief missions in the Latin American and Caribbean area since 2005. SOUTHCOM’s initial

assessment team, consisting of military engineers, operational planners, and command and

control communication specialists, deployed to Haiti within 24 hours of the earthquake. U.S. Air

Force Special Operations Command personnel dispatched to the Port au Prince International

Airport restored air traffic control capability and rapidly enabled round-the-clock airfield

operations. The airport can now handle up to 120 flights a day, up from the 20 daily flights it

handled prior to the earthquake. According to SOUTHCOM, over 14,000 U.S. citizens were

evacuated safely.

U.S. military forces have delivered over 2.6 million bottled waters, 2.3 million food rations, 15

million lbs of bulk food, more than 125,000 lbs of medical supplies, and more than 844,000 lbs of

bulk fuel. Additional tasks undertaken by DOD personnel included casualty treatment both ashore

and afloat, aerial reconnaissance to assist rescue/supply efforts, the distribution of 73,000 handcrank commercial radios, and the provision of radio broadcast capacity for emergency services

information.

The U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) provided a range of transport aircraft,

including C-17 Globemaster IIIs and C-130 Hercules. Air National Guard units from Ohio and

Puerto Rico also provided transport aircraft. The Navy Expeditionary Combat Command

deployed units that can provide explosive ordnance disposal, maritime and riverine security,

diving/salvage experts, and naval construction personnel. U.S. Navy surveillance and Air Force

unmanned aircraft performed aerial surveys of the earthquake damage to assist remediation

efforts. Of particular importance to improving rescue/recovery supply operations, a U.S. Coast

Guard Maritime Transportation Recovery Unit coordinated efforts to restore the Port au Prince

See USAID website: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/haiti/

template/index.html.

Prepared by Stephen Bowman, CRS Specialist in National Security, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.

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harbor facilities, and the U.S. Navy deployed a variety of specialized ships (salvage, heavy-crane,

and oceanographic survey) to assist in these efforts. To date, eight Haitian ports are fully

operational, and Port-au-Prince facilities are operating at partial capacity.

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (2,000 personnel) and a brigade combat team from the 82nd

Airborne Division (3,400 personnel) have conducted security/humanitarian operations. Though

there have been incidents of violence and looting, military commanders noted these have been

concentrated primarily in areas known for violence prior to the earthquake, and the commanders

are optimistic that violence will not spread to the general population, provided that the

distribution of basic humanitarian supplies continues to improve. Fewer than 1% of the U.S.

military personnel in Haiti have been required to conduct security operations. A U.S. Marine Fleet

Anti-terrorism Security Team has provided protection for U.S. Embassy facilities. Civil Affairs

units from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps deployed to stricken areas to facilitate interaction

between the population, the Haitian government, and organizations undertaking relief and

recovery operations. The U.S. Coast Guard has undertaken the air-medical evacuation of injured

U.S. civilian personnel to the Guantanamo Naval Station, supplied two C-130 transport aircraft,

and deployed six cutters.

The Department of Defense has requested a supplemental appropriation of $655 million for its

humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti. This request comprises $133.3 million each for both the Army

and Navy Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Accounts, $133.4 million for the Air Force

Operations and Maintenance, and $255 million for the Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and

Civic Aid Account (OHDACA). The requested funds for the Services will back-fill the $400

million in O&M funds that were initially reprogrammed to the OHDACA account, the account

used by DOD to conduct humanitarian relief efforts. The $255 million requested for OHDACA

fulfills the remainder of the $655 million requirement for Operation Unified Response. This

supplemental request covers expenses already incurred, in addition to permitting continued

operations through June 15, 2010. Specifically, the funding will provide for soldier subsistence;

personal, operational, transportation support; humanitarian relief supplies; and a number of

humanitarian relief projects.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

There is no central database that tracks activities and funding of national or international NGOs.

It is therefore not possible to provide comprehensive and accurate information on their programs

and funding, either for this crisis or for activities over the past decade. The United States Institute

of Peace estimates that prior to the earthquake, the number of NGOs operating in Haiti ranged

from 3,000 to 10,000.34

U.S.-based NGOs are playing an active role in the relief and recovery effort in Haiti, several of

them with U.S. government funding. A list of U.S. NGOs working in Haiti can be obtained from a

variety of sources.35 A NGO Coordination Unit has been established to ensure better coordination

among NGOs, the United Nations, and the military.

United States Institute of Peace, Haiti: A Republic of NGOs? Peacebrief 23, April 26, 2010.

See, for example, Interaction, which is an alliance of U.S.-based international humanitarian and development NGOs

at http://www.interaction.org.

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Overall U.S. FY2010 Assistance

In the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-117) Congress provided “not less than

$295,530,000” for assistance for Haiti, about $2.7 million more than the Administration had

requested. Congress also included Haiti in the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, to provide

equipment and training to combat drug trafficking and related violence and organized crime, and

for judicial reform, institution building, education, anti-corruption, rule of law activities, and

maritime security. (See “Legislation in the 111th Congress” section below.)

The estimated FY2010 assistance for Haiti is $363 million, including $23 million and $121

million for Global Health and Child Survival under USAID and State Department, respectively;

$161 million in Economic Support Funds; $35.5 million in P.L. 480 food aid; $21 million for

International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement; $0.22 million for International Military

Education and Training, and $1.6 million in Foreign Military Financing.

The Administration had requested $359 million in FY2011 assistance for Haiti, including $35

million and $121 million for Global Health and Child Survival under USAID and State

Department, respectively; $146 million in Economic Support Funds; $35.5 million in P.L. 480

food aid; $19 million for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement; $0.22 million for

International Military Education and Training, and $1.6 million in Foreign Military Financing.

FY2010 Supplemental Funding Request for Haiti

The Obama Administration is requesting $2.8 billion in FY2010 supplemental funding to cover

costs associated with relief and reconstruction support for Haiti following the earthquake.

The Administration has requested that all of the proposed funds be considered as emergency

requirements, in response to urgent and essential needs in Haiti. Some of the funds are available

until September 30, 2012, others until expended. The supplemental request covers both

reimbursement of obligations already incurred and new activities by various U.S. agencies. CRS

estimates that 55% of the total Haiti supplemental request is for reimbursement of relief activities

related to the earthquake disaster, 40% for new recovery and reconstruction activities, and 6% for

diplomatic operations administration.36

International Humanitarian Funding

A great many international actors are also providing relief to Haiti, either through financial

contributions to the government of Haiti or aid organizations or by directly providing relief

supplies and emergency personnel.

U.N. Consolidated Appeals Process

The earthquake disaster in Haiti has received worldwide attention and focus. Under the U.N.

Consolidated Appeals Process, on January 15, 2010, the U.N. Humanitarian Country Team in

Percentages total 101% due to rounding of request amounts.

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Haiti issued a Flash Appeal for emergency financial assistance in the amount of $575 million to

support emergency food aid, health, water, sanitation, emergency education, and other key needs

and early recovery efforts (typically the initial six months after a disaster). As of February 15,

commitments of $619 million had been received (107 % of the Flash Appeal) and a further $29

million in uncommitted pledges. On February 19, 2010, the United Nations announced that it had

revised its humanitarian aid appeal for Haiti to $1.44B – a record high. The Revised

Humanitarian Appeal includes the original six-month Flash Appeal amount and it extends the

humanitarian operation through 2010. As of April 29, 2010, commitments of $831 million (55.4%

of the Revised Appeal) had been received and a further $27 million in uncommitted pledges.

Other Pledges and Contributions

Additional pledges and contributions have also been made outside the Flash Appeal. Many

countries, including the U.S. government, are providing assistance in the form of direct

contributions of items such as food and tents, or through the operation of relief flights and

logistics support. In addition to bilateral assistance, funding has also been provided to NGOs

operating outside of the U.N. appeal.

The Emergency Relief Response Fund for Haiti has more than $76 million in pledges, of which

$63 million has been received. These funds have been allocated by cluster to U.N. and NGO

organizations.

The U.N.’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) initially made available $10 million

which later increased to $37.9 million.37

Donor Contributions and Pledges

So far, through governments and the private sector, the international community has pledged

millions of dollars in aid, materials, and technical support. Appendix G highlights donor

contributions and in-kind pledges. At least 116 countries from around the world have contributed

to the relief effort. Obtaining an exact up-to-date record of all international contributions is not

possible—in part because some assistance is not reported to governments or coordinating

agencies—and in part because of the delay in their recording. As the recovery effort gets

underway, the Haitian government is considering a geographical distribution of tasks or tasks that

are theme based as a way of engaging donor interest. For example, one country might “adopt” a

province or city or target a specific need in the Haitian government.

As part of the United Nations’ reform process, in March 2006, the CERF was launched based on several earlier

resolutions approved by the U.N. General Assembly to strengthen the United Nations’ capacity to respond to natural

disasters and humanitarian emergencies. It is managed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of UNOCHA.

As an international, multilateral funding mechanism, the CERF aims to focus on early intervention, timely response,

and increased capacity and support to underfunded crises. The funds come from voluntary contributions by member

states and from the private sector. The CERF is seen by proponents as a way to enable the United Nations to respond

more efficiently, effectively, and consistently to humanitarian crises worldwide. Others also believe that U.S. support

for this idea is critical to sustaining momentum for donor contributions and continued support for the disaster relief

fund.

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Private Contributions

Private sector assistance has already been substantial and is expected to continue to grow. Some

reports indicate that as of April 2010, private companies and individuals had contributed more

than $1 billion to support relief efforts in Haiti.38 Initiatives in the United States include the

campaign by the American Red Cross to raise funds through text messages ($31 million), the

Hollywood star-studded telethon that featured performances by a broad range of musicians and

was broadcast on major U.S. television networks ($66 million), and numerous local fund raising

activities.

On January 16, 2010, President Obama announced that former Presidents George W. Bush and

Bill Clinton, who is also serving as the U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti, would lead a fundraising

effort and work with the U.S. private sector in support of Haiti. The initiative is called the Clinton

Bush Haiti Fund.39 Cash donations are being encouraged. To date, the fund has received more

than $200,000 in contributions. On March 22, Presidents Bush and Clinton visited Haiti to assess

relief and recovery efforts.

Recovery Planning among Donors and Haiti40

President Préval has asked the international community to focus not just on immediate

humanitarian relief efforts, but also on long-term development needs.

Early Recovery Planning

Discussions among the government of Haiti and the international donor community regarding a

long-term strategy for Haiti began almost immediately. To that end, at a preliminary meeting

among some international donors held in the Dominican Republic the week following the

earthquake, Dominican President Leonel Fernandez proposed a $10 billion five-year assistance

program for Haiti.

Representatives from Haiti, the “Friends of Haiti” nations, other countries, and U.N. officials held

a high-level Ministerial Conference in Montreal, Canada, on January 25, 2010, to discuss

reconstruction plans for Haiti. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive thanked the donor

community for its help so far, but said that an international commitment of 5 to 10 years was

needed to support Haitian development. Conferees agreed to study recent examples of

multilateral recovery efforts in order to develop an optimal aid-delivery mechanism that ensures

effectiveness and accountability, and creates the conditions for sustainable development.

The World Economic Forum launched a global initiative to integrate business into Haiti’s

reconstruction at its meeting January 27-31.

See, for example, the Chronicle of Philanthropy at http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=10679 and

http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/10632/donations-to-aid-haiti-set-new-records.

For more information, see http://clintonbushhaitifund.org.

Prepared by (name redacted), Specialist in Latin American Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade

Division.

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March 31, 2010 Donors Conference41

The global donor conference in New York on March 31 secured commitments for substantial

funds for Haiti’s recovery. Donors pledged nearly $10 billion toward long-term reconstruction

efforts, $5.3 billion of that for the first 18 months. These pledges are in addition to commitments

made to the U.N. flash appeal for Haiti.

The Obama Administration, other international donors, the Haitian government, and others actors

have all stated the need for improved accountability of all donor assistance to Haiti, to improve

aid effectiveness and reduce the potential for corruption. Several entities have been established to

improve development planning, coordination, and accountability. Although some Haitians think

foreign donors are exerting too much control through these mechanisms, Haitian President Rene

Préval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive have acknowledged that Haitian capacities were

already limited, and were considerably diminished by the earthquake, and proposed such entities

in their action plan. The National Assembly approved the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.

Multi Donor Trust Fund. The World Bank will receive international funding and act as the fiscal

agent for the funds. The Haitian government will lead a Steering Committee that will decide

which agencies will receive the funds. The Bank will ensure that the Haitian government is

meeting legal requirements before funds are transferred to it for budget support.

Haiti Reconstruction Platform. To ensure further transparency, the U.S. Agency for

International Development has helped Haiti establish an internet-based system to track donor

pledges, and monitor the implementation and spending of assistance.42

Interim Haiti Recovery Commission. Before the conference, the Préval Administration

announced the formation of this Commission to guide long term development. It is to be cochaired by former President Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. Other

members are to include two Haitian legislators, local authorities, union and business

representatives, a Caribbean Community (Caricom) delegate, and one representative of each of

Haiti’s largest donors. Those donors include the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Venezuela

and the European Union, as well as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and

the United Nations. It is designed to give Haitian officials the opportunity to exert leadership

regarding their priorities, while working with international experts to hone their ability to design

and execute development programs and process foreign assistance. According to Secretary of

State Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, the goal is to turn the process over to Haitian

authorities in 18 months, at which time it would become the Haitian Development Authority.

The Role of the United Nations and Other Organizations

The United Nations, in association with other U.N. system agencies and programs, conducted the

initial needs assessments necessary for planning Haiti’s long-term and comprehensive recovery.

Among the major actors involved were the World Bank, the U.N. Development Program, the

multitude of U.N. specialized agencies (such as the World Health Organization, the U.N.

Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization), as

The website for the conference is at http://www.haiticonference.org/. Much of the information for this section is

drawn from documents at that site.

The Haiti Reconstruction Platform is available at http://www.refondation.ht/index.jsp?sid=1&id=1&pid=1.

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well as regional organizations, including the European Union (EU), the Organization for

American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Caribbean Community

(Caricom). Many of these organizations worked together previously in Haiti in response to the

2008 hurricanes and are responding to the international humanitarian needs in the aftermath of the

earthquake. The Human Rights Council held a special session on Haiti on January 27-28, 2010,

and in its resolution, it stressed the importance of protecting human rights during the recovery

effort. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has sent a human

rights monitoring team to Haiti. The OHCHR along with the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR) continue to press all countries to suspend involuntary returns to Haiti due

to the humanitarian crisis.

Response of International Financial Institutions43

Multilateral Lending

The multilateral development banks (MDBs) have been active in Haiti for several years,

providing debt relief, loans, and grants to both the Haitian government and the private sector.

Following the earthquake, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced new financial support for the country.

World Bank

After the earthquake, the World Bank announced $100 million in emergency grant funding to

support recovery and reconstruction, in addition to its existing $308 million portfolio of grants

projects in Haiti. 44 The existing projects are in areas including disaster risk management,

infrastructure, community-driven development, education, and economic governance. At the

March Donor’s conference, the World Bank announced an additional $250 million in new funding

for Haiti. This includes $151 million in grants, a $39 million write-off from cancelling Haiti’s

remaining debt to the Bank and $60 million in investments from the Bank’s private sector arm,

the International Finance Corporation (IFC).45

Inter-American Development Bank

On January 12, 2010, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno

announced a $200,000 emergency grant for immediate relief aid. The IDB is Haiti’s largest

multilateral donor, with a portfolio of programs worth over $700 million as of the end of 2009.46

These programs include both grants and concessional loans. Of this amount, $330 million is

undisbursed, of which $90 million could be quickly redirected to high-priority civil works and

reconstruction projects.47 IDB management also announced that it anticipates the approval of up

Prepared by Martin Weiss, Specialist in International Trade and Finance, updated by (name redacted), Analyst in

International Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.

“World Bank to Provide an Additional $100 Million to Haiti, Following Earthquake,” World Bank, January 13, 2010.

“World Bank Pledges Half Billion US Dollars for Haiti Over 14 Months,” World Bank, March 31, 2010.

“December 2009—IDB Portfolio in Haiti, Inter-American Development Bank, December 17, 2009.

“Haiti earthquake: IDB redirects resources for emergency assistance and reconstruction,” Inter-American

(continued...)

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to $128 million in already-planned grants, potentially providing more resources for

reconstruction. In March 2010, IDB donor governments committed to providing necessary

resources so that the IDB can provide at least $2 billion in grants to Haiti over the next ten

years.48

International Monetary Fund

Haiti receives concessional loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as from the

multilateral development banks.49 In response to the earthquake, the IMF approved $102 million

in new assistance. Including the new lending, total Haiti debt to the IMF is now $271 million.50

Debt Relief Prior to the Earthquake

Haiti completed the multilateral Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in

June 2009, making it eligible to receive debt relief from the multilateral and some bilateral

creditors.

World Bank

Under the terms of Haiti’s participation in the Enhanced HIPC program, the World Bank provided

Haiti debt relief for debts incurred through December 2003. According to the World Bank, debt

relief under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative amounts to $140.3 million. Inter-American

Development Bank

The IDB, in September 2009, provided $511 million in debt relief. Debts eligible for cancellation

were those incurred through 2004 (compared to 2003 in the case of IDA). According to the IDB,

Haiti currently owes $429 million (principal-only) to the IDB. This includes $305 million from

loans made in 2005 and 2006, after the debt cancellation cut-off date of December 31, 2004, and

$124 million from undisbursed balances of loans made before the cut-off date. Beginning in

2009, Haiti’s payments on its debt to the IDB have been made by a U.S.-supported trust fund that

currently amounts to $20 million.

Bilateral Creditors

Haiti has also received debt relief from its bilateral creditors. Haiti’s completion of the HIPC

program triggered debt relief of $62.7 million by the Paris Club group of official creditors. Haiti’s

Paris Club creditors agreed to go beyond the requirements of the HIPC program, however, and

provide $152 million in additional debt cancellation, thus completely cancelling Haiti’s external

(...continued)

Development Bank, January 13, 2010.

IDB approves historic expansion of capital, financial package for Haiti,” Inter-American Development Bank, March

22, 2010.

Financing under the IMF’s concessional lending facility, the Extended Credit Facility, carries a zero interest rate,

with a grace period of 5½ years, and a final maturity of 10 years. The Fund reviews the level of interest rates for all

concessional facilities under the PRGT every two years.

Statement by IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn during the International Donors Conference Towards

a New Future for Haiti, International Monetary Fund, March 31, 2010.

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Paris Club debt of $214 million. That said, Paris Club debt relief is not automatic. Creditor

nations collectively sign bilateral agreements with the debtor nation, giving effect to the

multilateral debt relief agreement. By mid-January, for example, France had only cancelled €4

million ($5.75 million) of €58 million ($83.36 million) owed to them by Haiti.51

On September 18, 2009, the United States cancelled $12.6 million (100%) of Haiti’s outstanding

debt to the United States. The United States has not extended new loans to Haiti since September

2009. Haiti does not currently have any outstanding debt obligations to the United States.

Debt Relief Since the Earthquake

Agreement has been reached by several donor nations to finance the cost of additional Haiti debt

relief for three institutions: the IDB, the World Bank, and the International Fund for Agriculture

and Development (IFAD).

Inter-American Development Bank

Haiti’s remaining debt from the IDB totals $447 million. An estimated $186 million of additional

loans have been approved but have not yet been disbursed. Once these are provided, they will add

to the debt stock. There is also a $28 million balance that represents Haiti’s local currency

conversion obligation to the IDB’s low-income lending arm, the Fund for Special Operations

(FSO). At the IDB’s March 2010 annual meetings, member states agreed to fund 100%

cancellation of Haiti’s remaining debts owed to the IDB, although all details have not been

finalized. 52

World Bank

Haiti’s remaining debt to the International Development Association, the World Bank’s lowincome lending facility, is $39 million. On March 31, 2010, the World Bank announced that 14

donor countries, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The

Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, have pledged to provide

a total of $39 million to cancel Haiti’s remaining IDA debt.53

International Fund for Agriculture and Development

Haiti’s remaining debts to IFAD are around $79 million. In April 2010, member nations agreed to

cancel these debts.54 Under the agreement, IFAD - an international financial institution and a

specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of

developing countries - will contribute up to 30 per cent of the debt relief requirement, with

member states needing to contribute the remaining 70%.

“France Asks Paris Club to Speed Up Haiti Debt Relief,” Reuters, January 15, 2010.

“UPDATE 2-IADB governors commit to Haiti aid, fresh capital,” Reuters, March 22, 2010.

World Bank Pledges Half Billion US Dollars for Haiti Over 14 Months, World Bank, March 31, 2010.

UN agency forgives debt owed by disaster-hit Haiti, UN News, April 23, 2010.

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Since the earthquake, other countries have stepped forward to provide debt relief to Haiti. At the

end of January 2010, Venezuela announced it would forgive Haiti’s debt, totaling $295 million.55

In mid-February 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Haiti and announced a new

French aid package for Haiti that reportedly included the cancelling of all the debt owed by Haiti

to France, totally €56 million (approximately $77 million). 56 Taiwan, another major bilateral

creditor to Haiti with $90 million of outstanding debt to Haiti, has discussed canceling Haiti’s

debt but nothing has materialized to date.57

International Monetary Fund

To date, there has been no international agreement on forgiveness of Haiti’s debts to the IMF of

$271 million. The interest rate on Haiti’s IMF loans is zero until 2012, however, with no

payments due until 2013.

The IMF and Haiti’s Financial Sector

On February 24, 2010, the IMF issued a press release on its role in helping revive Haiti’s

financial sector.58 Officials from the IMF and Haiti’s Central Bank discussed a proposal prepared

by Haiti’s authorities to maintain financial stability and restart private sector credit. The IMF’s

press release states that “this proposal will be critical to allowing the private sector to fully play

its role in rebuilding the economy and providing jobs, in the context of the broader reconstruction

and economic recovery.”59 The IMF also announced that it will help Haiti’s authorities design a

partial credit guarantee fund.

Debt Relief in the FY2010 Supplemental Funding Request

To help Haiti in its recovery from the earthquake, the Administration is proposing U.S.

contributions of $252 million to help cancel Haiti’s debts of $781 million to three international

organizations: the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, and International Fund for

Agriculture and Development. Through FY2010 supplemental funding, the Administration

requests reallocating up to $40 million from the Treasury Department’s Debt Restructuring

Account appropriated for the multilateral Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Trust Fund

from this or subsequent fiscal years to Haiti. The Administration also seeks new contributions of

$212 million for multilateral debt relief. Congressional authorization is required for the $40

million reallocation, and both authorization and appropriations are required for the additional

$212 million.

Heather Stewart , “Haiti Heads for Debt Crisis as Emergency Loans Pile Up after Earthquake,” The Observer,

January 31, 2010.

Pascal Fletcher, “Sarkozy Visits Haiti, Unveils Major Aid Package,” Reuters, February 17, 2010. It is unclear why

estimates of Haiti debt owed to France differ across news articles (€58 million vs. €56 million), but it is reported that

the debt relief provided by France to Haiti in mid-February allowed for cancellation of all of the debt owed by Haiti to

France.

“Taiwan Contemplating Haiti Debt Relief Decision,” Taiwan News, January 21, 2010.

IMF, “Statement by the IMF on Haiti,” press release, February 24, 2010, http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/

2010/pr1059.htm.

Ibid.

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Regional Response

Latin American countries have responded to Haiti’s crisis with immediate provision of emergency

supplies and personnel and pledges of financial and other assistance for its long-term recovery.

Members of the Organization of American States (OAS) pledged humanitarian, financial and

other support to Haiti. The OAS Group of Friends of Haiti met on January 14 to coordinate search

and rescue efforts, prompt donations, and discuss ways to promote recovery.

The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM), of which Haiti is also a member, was

working in Haiti prior to the earthquake. Afterwards, it mobilized its disaster emergency response

system to assist Haiti, and several members have sent emergency supplies or promised financial

assistance. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency assembled a response team

to assess conditions in Haiti as well.60

Many countries in the region already have peacekeeping troops in Haiti serving with

MINUSTAH. Brazil leads the U.N. peacekeeping mission, and had 1,284 uniformed personnel

already serving there as of December 2009.

Many countries in the region have made bilateral cash or in-kind contributions as well. (See

“Regional Donors to Haiti Relief Effort,” in Appendix F.)The Dominican Republic, which shares

the island of Hispaniola with Haiti but did not suffer heavy damage from the earthquake,

responded swiftly and generously. The two countries have a long history of hostility toward one

another, but Presidents Préval and Fernandez have worked in recent years toward having a more

cooperative relationship, and this has been reflected in the Dominican response. Haiti’s neighbor

was the first country to send relief supplies and personnel, and has facilitated aid delivery through

use of its airports, roads, and port. It has stopped repatriation of undocumented Haitians, and

opened its border to injured Haitians, thousands of whom have been treated in both public and

private hospitals. Fernandez organized a preparatory meeting for donors to discuss future aid to

Haiti the week after the earthquake, and the Dominican Republic hosted a technical meeting prior

to the March 31 donor conference.

Political and Economic Situation in Haiti61

Conditions in Haiti Before the Earthquake

Long before the earthquake struck, Haiti was a country socially and ecologically at risk. It has

some of the lowest socioeconomic indicators in the world62. Haiti was already in an acute

environmental crisis. Only 2% of its forest cover remains intact.63 Following the hurricanes of

2008, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Moreno, called Haiti

Caribbean Media Corporation, “Caribbean heads of state to visit Haiti to assess quake damage,” BBC Monitoring

Americas, January 14, 2010.

Prepared by (name redacted), Specialist in Latin American Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade

Division.

World Bank, Country Report: Haiti, 2010, http://go.worldbank.org/GBXI5JKM50.

Ibid.

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the most fragile of IDB’s member countries, saying that no other nation in Latin America and the

Caribbean is as vulnerable to economic shocks and natural disasters as is Haiti.

Haiti had been making progress, however. The U.N. Secretary-General commissioned a report,

published in January 2009, that recommended a strategy to move Haiti beyond recovery to

economic security. Indeed, the U.N. Security Council conducted a fact-finding visit to Haiti in

March 2009, and concluded that there was “a window of opportunity to enable the consolidation

of stability and the undertaking of a process of sustainable development.” 64

Political Conditions

President Préval is in his second (non-consecutive) five-year term as President of Haiti. During

the first three years of this term, Préval established relative internal political stability. He outlined

two main missions for his government: (1) to build institutions, and (2) to establish favorable

conditions for private investment in order to create jobs. In November 2007, his Administration

published its National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction, a key step in meeting IMF

requirements for debt relief, which it met in June 2009. With the support of MINUSTAH, which

arrived in Haiti in 2004, security conditions improved, as did the capacity of the country’s police

force. Both the former and current U.S. Administrations praised Préval for his efforts to improve

economic conditions and establish the rule of law in Haiti. Préval pledged to cooperate with U.S.

counternarcotics efforts. Both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met

with President Préval early in 2009, and since the earthquake have provided humanitarian

assistance and pledged long-term support for development in Haiti.

The Haitian government is functioning under extremely difficult conditions, with 28 of 29

government Ministry buildings destroyed, and 17% of the country’s civil service killed. 65 U.S.

and U.N. officials both say they are coordinating relief and recovery efforts with the Préval

administration. To provide the Haitian government some operating space, the U.S. Department of

State agreed on January 16 to lease the old U.S. Embassy building in downtown Port-au-Prince to

the Haitian government for $1 a year. That building had been put up for sale in June 2008 after

the new U.S. Embassy opened near the Port-au-Prince airport. On February 16, 2010, Canadian

Prime Minister Stephen Harper while in Haiti announced that Canada would provide $12 million

to build temporary facilities to house several Haitian government ministries.

Though greatly improved, Haiti’s political stability remains fragile. Préval’s inauguration in 1996

was the first transition between two democratically elected presidents in Haitian history. The

government has its third prime minister since April 2008. Parliament dismissed Prime Minister

Michele Pierre-Louis in October 2009, barely a year after her appointment. Nonetheless, the

transition was smooth as President Préval swiftly appointed, and the Parliament confirmed, JeanMax Bellerive to take her place. As Minister of Planning and External Cooperation from 2006 to

2009, Bellerive helped to prepare Haiti’s National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction.66

After the earthquake, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide announced he would like to return

to Haiti, although he has since given no explicit plans to do so. Aristide has lived in exile in South

“Haiti: UN Council Mission reports strides in security, worrisome poverty,” States News Service, March 19, 2009.

U.S. Dept. of State & U.S. AID, FY201ff0 Haiti Supplemental Budget Justification, p.4.

“New Haitian Prime Minister-designate Profiled,” BBC Monitoring Americas, November 5, 2009.

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Africa since his government collapsed in 2004. Once—and possibly still—extremely popular

among some Haitians, he is nonetheless a divisive figure. Aristide would face charges of

corruption and would likely contribute to political instability if he were to return.

The National Assembly and the Question of 2010 Elections

Haiti’s parliament, the National Assembly, also faces enormous challenges in trying to reestablish

itself: some of its members were killed in the earthquake; the parliament buildings were

destroyed, as was the electoral council’s building. The U.S. House of Representatives’

Democracy Partnership and others are working with the Parliament to help it function again. The

National Assembly has been meeting since shortly after the earthquake in makeshift offices. The

Senate elected two commissions on January 28 to monitor international aid and manage

agreements with aid organizations.

Political tensions were mounting ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for February

28 and March 3, 2010. In late 2009, President Préval cut ties to the Lespwa movement

that elected him in 2006, and formed a new movement, Unity. Opposition groups accused

the presidentially appointed electoral council of bias in favor of the President’s new

movement. The electoral council disqualified, without explanation about 15 rival political

groups, which included members of Lespwa who did not join Préval’s new party.

Opposition groups expressed concern that if Unity won a legislative majority, it would

push through constitutional amendments, possibly including one allowing Préval to run

for another term in 2011. The constitution allows only two non-consecutive terms for a

President, and Préval is completing his second term. Préval has promised to step down

when his term expires on February 7, 2011, and said he would not run again. There is no

clear candidate to succeed him. In February 2010, the electoral council postponed the

elections indefinitely. The elections were to determine all 99 seats in the House and onethird of the seats in the Senate.

Tensions are likely to increase when those legislative terms expire on May 10, 2010

without replacements having been elected. As mentioned earlier, it is not entirely clear

how the government will function after that date. But Haiti passed a State of Emergency

Law on April 20 giving the President broad powers and President Préval will probably

rule by decree. After May 10 the remaining 19 Senators may continue to meet, however,

and the Senate has the power to dismiss the Prime Minister and censure government

programs. The international community is urging Haiti to hold legislative and presidential

elections in November 2010.

Socioeconomic Conditions Prior to the Earthquake

Plagued by chronic political instability and frequent natural disasters, Haiti remains the poorest

country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti’s poverty is massive and deep. Over half the population

(54%) of 9.8 million people live in extreme poverty, living on less than $1 a day; 78% live on $2

or less a day, according to the World Bank. 67 Poverty among the rural population is even more

widespread: 69% of rural dwellers live on less than $1 a day, and 86% live on less than $2 a day.

Hunger is also widespread: 81% of the national population and 87% of the rural population do not

World Bank, Country Report: Haiti, 2010, http://go.worldbank.org/GBXI5JKM50.

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get the minimum daily ration of food defined by the World Health Organization. In remote parts

of Haiti, children have died from malnutrition. 68

In order to reach its Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by

2015, Haiti’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would have to grow 3.5% per year, a goal the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Haiti is not considered likely to achieve. Over the past

40 years, Haiti’s per capita real GDP has declined by 30%. Therefore, economic growth, even if it

is greater than population growth, is not expected to be enough to reduce poverty. Haiti has

experienced some economic growth since 2004. Economic growth for FY2007 was 3.2%, the

highest rate since the 1990s. Before the earthquake, the forecasted growth for FY2009-20010 was

2.5%, reflecting the impact of recent storms and the global economic crisis, and up to 3.5% for

2010-2011.69 The global economic crisis also had led to a drop of about 10% in remittances from

Haitians abroad, which in 2008 amounted to about $1.65 billion, more than a fourth of Haiti’s

annual income. 70

The likelihood that economic growth will contribute to the reduction of poverty in Haiti is further

reduced by its significant income distribution gap. Haiti has the second largest income disparity

in the world. Over 68% of the total national income accrues to the wealthiest 20% of the

population, while less than 1.5% of Haiti’s national income is accumulated by the poorest 20% of

the population. When the level of inequality is as high as Haiti’s, according to the World Bank,

the capacity of economic growth to reduce poverty “approaches zero.”71

Long-term Reconstruction Strategy

Review of Haiti’s Development Strategy

Haiti already had a National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction in place for 2007-2010,

supported by the international donor community. 72 As Minister of Planning and External

Cooperation from 2006 to 2009, current Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive helped to prepare

that Strategy. 73 The poverty reduction strategy focuses on three “priority pillars.” The first is areas

for growth, focusing on agriculture and rural development; tourism; infrastructure modernization;

and science, technology and innovation. The second pillar is human development, concentrating

on education and training; health; water and sanitation; persons with disabilities; childhood

poverty; young people; HIV/AIDS; and gender equity. The third pillar calls for investment in

democratic governance, focusing on the establishment of an equitable justice system; creation of

a climate of security; modernization of the state; and political and economic decentralization.

“Rural Haitian Children Starving,” Associated Press, November 21, 2008.

Economist Intelligence Unit, “Country Report: Haiti ,” November 2009, p. 12.

Mike Blanchfield, “In recession, Haitians abroad send less money home,” Canwest News Service, March 17, 2009.

World Bank, “Income Distribution, Inequality, and Those Left Behind,” Global Economic Prospects 2007:

Managing the Next Wave of Globalization, p. 83. December 1, 2006.

Republic of Haiti, Growth And Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, November 2007, available at

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTHAITIINFRENCH/Resources/HaitiDSNCRPEnglish.pdf.

“New Haitian Prime Minister-designate Profiled,” BBC Monitoring Americas, November 5, 2009.

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After a series of devastating hurricanes in 2008, the government of Haiti revised its strategy

incorporating the findings of a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment and the U.N.’s “Haiti: From

Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security” report, at a donors conference held April 21, 2009, in

Washington, DC. The Haitian government outlined the priorities of its new two-year plan, “Haiti:

a New Paradigm,” which include investing in strategic infrastructure, improving economic

governance and the business environment, improving the provision of basic services, and

ensuring environmental sustainability.74

The government was making strides toward meeting goals of its growth and poverty reduction

strategy, and some analysts were viewing its potential for sustainable development with

optimism. Investors were returning to Haiti and the country was promoting its economic

development. The earthquake has reversed years of progress. Haiti’s strategy will therefore need

to be reviewed, revised, and built upon to incorporate new conditions and needs.

Haiti’s National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction remains relevant, and the

government says its pillars will remain the basic pillars of its strategy. The Préval Administration

will present a revised vision statement at the March 31 donors conference, and more fully revise

its strategy after the completion of the post-disaster needs assessment.

The U.S. Department of State was about to announce a new strategy toward Haiti, on which it had

been collaborating with the Préval Administration for almost a year.75 That, too, will need to be

revised. The assessment concluded that a new strategy needed: (1) a comprehensive integrated

approach to achieve sustainable long-term stability and economic growth; (2) investment in plans

led by the Haitian government to ensure sustainability; (3) better coordination to maximize the

effectiveness of U.S. and other donor assistance; (4) expanded reach of U.S. programs by using

partnerships with other international actors; and (5) improved accountability and measurement of

results.

The State Department’s assessment and plan focused on four areas: agriculture, energy, health,

and security.76 All of these areas, plus others such as governance and education, will need to be

addressed in the short term, while simultaneously developing plans to rebuild in the long term.

Principles of Assistance for the Reconstruction of Haiti77

At the March donors conference in April, the donor countries agreed to the following principles:

Ownership: Donors will align their assistance with priorities established by the Haitian

government and will involve the Haitian people in the development and implementation of

projects.

Le Rapport d'Evaluation des Besoins Apres Desastre Cyclones Fay, Gustav, Hanna et lke (Haiti Post-Disaster Needs

Assessment, PDNA), Prepared for the Government of the Republic of Haiti with the support of the World Bank, the

United Nations System, and the European Commission, November 2008. Author’s translation. Available in French at

http://gfdrr.org/docs/Haiti_PDNA_2008.pdf. “Haiti: a New Paradigm” is available at http://idbdocs.iadb.org/WSDocs/

getDocument.aspx?DOCNUM=1942794.

“Haiti Policy and Foreign Assistance Review,” presentation for Congressional briefing, October 2009.

United Nations, International Donors’ Conference Towards a New future for Haiti, Final Communique, New York,

NY, 2010.

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Coordination and Effectiveness: Participants will strengthen coordination through consultation

and “unprecedented” transparency, and concentration on priority sectors for each donor, and will

adhere to the principles of aid effectiveness and build on lessons learned.

Inclusiveness: The conference emphasized the importance of consulting with key communities,

such as the Haitian people, civil society, non-governmental organizations, local governments, the

private sector, the Haitian diaspora, MINUSTAH stakeholders, and regional partners.

Accountability and Transparency: The government of Haiti and donors agreed to increased

accountability and transparency in both pledges and use of assistance, and established a

monitoring and transparency unit within the Interim Haitian Reconstruction Commission/Haitian

development authority accountable to the Haitian and international public.

Sustainability: The international community pledged a long-term commitment to Haiti’s

reconstruction.

Select Issues to be Addressed in the Long-term Reconstruction

Strategy

The priorities of the Haitian government’s Action Plan for the Reconstruction and National

Development of Haiti are outlined in “The Government’s New Action Plan” earlier in the report.

Analysts and donors are stressing that Haiti cannot be merely re-built, but must be re-built better.

In this crisis, many people see the opportunity to address some of the underlying problems

contributing to the country’s endemic poverty and underdevelopment. The Action Plan addresses

these issues, and is the basis for donor contributions and activity.

Agricultural Capacity and the Environment

Rebuilding Haiti’s agricultural capacity is a key element of the country’s reconstruction strategy

and is seen as a way of broadening Haiti’s economy, and reducing its reliance on food imports.

Yet Haiti’s environment was in a state of crisis before the earthquake struck. Obstacles to

agricultural development include massive deforestation, erosion of topsoil, lack of investment in

agricultural technology for decades, and unclear land titles. A relatively new infrastructure is in

place to help with the process of incorporating post-earthquake needs into Haiti’s overall

environmental rehabilitation plan. Following the destructive hurricane season of 2008, efforts to

revive Haiti’s ecology had been renewed when a coalition of U.N. agencies, government

agencies, non-governmental organizations, and technical institutes launched a Haiti Regeneration

Initiative. 78

Decentralization of Population and Services

A core goal of the revised Haitian development strategy, supported by the donors conference, is to

catalyze economic growth and provide services and opportunities outside of Port-au-Prince.

According to U.N. and U.S. officials, decentralization is the focus of the second phase of delivery

Nina Shen Rastogi, “Was Haiti’s ecosystem disrupted?,” The Washington Post, February 9, 2010.

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assistance as well, and food, shelter, jobs programs, and other services are being delivered to

communities around the country to help them cope with the influx of people from the capital.

Haiti was once a predominantly rural population, with only about 20% of its population living in

cities. By the time of the 2010 earthquake, the vast majority of Haitians lived in cities, primarily

Port-au-Prince. Parts of the Haitian government and private sector have concentrated resources,

services, and job opportunities in Port-au-Prince for decades. Prime Minister Bellerive and

analysts who follow Haiti suggest that the current crisis provides an opportunity to correct what

had become an unsustainable urban-rural distribution of people and resources in the country.

Some have suggested not rebuilding Port-au-Prince because it lies on a fault line and remains

susceptible to further earthquakes.

Property rights are not clearly established throughout Haiti, and are of concern as the Haitian

government and donors try to set up relocation settlements, reforestation and agricultural

programs, and encourage investors to build outside of the capital. U.S. programs will help

develop infrastructure in support of decentralization and help seek resolutions to property rights

issues.

Education

Canada and France are the countries designated to focus on helping Haiti develop education in

the reconstruction phase. Haiti’s schools were woefully inadequate prior to the earthquake, and

many were destroyed by the earthquake. Most schools are privately run. Education is crucial to

raising Haitians out of a cycle of poverty, by providing the knowledge and skills individuals need

to take advantage of job opportunities. Experts note that job creation must be accompanied by

education programs.

Energy

Energy is one of the United States’ areas of focus in the development strategy. By virtually all

accounts, Haiti’s current energy sources are inefficient and inadequate. They are often destructive

as well: Haitians’ reliance on charcoal for fuel has contributed to the deforestation of all but 2%

of its forest cover. Some observers have suggested that clean energy technology could help Haiti

“avoid some of the poverty traps of the old system.”79 According to at least one analysis,

developing small-scale, alternative energy sources at the local level rather than trying to rebuild

the previously ineffectual Haitian electricity service would increase the quality of life of many

Haitians and have a positive impact on economic growth. 80

Health Care

Because the United States is already a leading provider of health care in Haiti, it is one of the

areas on which it will focus in the reconstruction phase. In much of the country the government

did not provide basic services prior to the earthquake. The lack of medicines or medical treatment

and adequate sanitation in Haiti has been exacerbated by the earthquake. In the long-term, health

care is crucial to raising Haitians out of a cycle of poverty, by providing the good health that

Dan Schnitzer, “Avoid the Old Poverty Traps,” Foreign Policy, January 19, 2010.

Ibid.

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enables children to develop and adults to function fully, whether as students, family providers or

employees.

Job Creation

Job creation in both the short- and long-term are important parts of the recovery strategy. UNDP

has already launched cash-for-work programs both to stimulate the local economy and ease the

delivery of humanitarian assistance. The program will quickly expand to earthquake-damaged

areas in and outside of Port-au-Prince, and employ 220,000 people, indirectly benefiting about

one million Haitians, according to UNDP.81 The current jobs are for clearing streets of building

rubble and disposing of debris. Donors are also creating job programs outside Port-au-Prince to

benefit communities receiving an influx of people from the capital. Public works such as building

roads, housing, and infrastructure are to generate jobs in the reconstruction phase.

Trade and Exports

Plans for economic growth include restoring and continuing to expand industrial exports. Many

analysts emphasize, however, that economic plans must be comprehensive, to avoid over-reliance

on any one area, such as the apparel assembly industry, which could leave the Haitian economy

overly vulnerable.

Recovery and Reconstruction Funding in the FY2010 Supplemental

Request

Within the Haiti supplemental proposal, the request for Recovery and Reconstruction funding is

$1.1 billion. This is primarily for new activities, in support of the Haitian government’s Action

Plan. U.S. programs to be funded through the supplemental request focus on urgent infrastructure

repairs, especially in the energy and agricultural sectors; critical health care; governance; and

security.

Congressional Concerns

Many Members have already expressed a strong desire to support Haiti and provide it with

substantial assistance. The 111th Congress gave bipartisan support to assist the Préval government

during its first session, and has continued to respond in that spirit to the crisis generated by the

January earthquake. Committees in the Senate and House have held hearings on Haiti. Both

Members and witnesses stressed the need for a massive, coordinated international effort not only

for immediate humanitarian needs, but also for long-term development. Moving forward, they

said, strategies must consider new approaches, aim to create a more sustainable Haiti, and

increase Haitian capacity to utilize foreign aid effectively and to provide services and direct its

own economy.

UNDP Update on Haiti Earthquake, January 20, 2010.

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FY2010 Supplemental Funding Request for Haiti

Regarding the Obama Administration’s total request for $2.8 billion in FY2010 supplemental

funding for costs related to Haitian relief and recovery activities, key concerns include:

Choosing Priorities. To coordinate aid programs better, donors have agreed to focus on certain

areas of assistance. Some observers have expressed concern that U.S. assistance is neglecting

areas crucial to Haitian recovery, such as improving the educational system, which is to be the

focus of Canada and France. While advocates say this approach avoids duplication among

donors, critics question the priorities, or the limited approach to aid.

Some experts suggest developing small-scale, alternative or clean energy sources at the local

level rather than trying to rebuild the previously ineffectual Haitian electricity service would

increase the quality of life of many Haitians and have a positive impact on economic growth.82

Some Members have expressed concern that insufficient funding is being focused on the needs of

children, or on psychological support for the traumatized population. There is no additional

funding for Global Health and Child Survival in the supplemental request. Some long-term care

for psychological support is included in the health activities proposed in the supplemental.

Decentralization and Economic Growth: Will they lead to Poverty Reduction? A key element of

the revised Haitian development strategy, supported by the supplemental request, is to catalyze

economic growth and provide services and opportunities outside of Port-au-Prince. The Haitian

government and donors agree that the current crisis provides an opportunity to correct what had

become an unsustainable urban-rural imbalance in the country, with the rest of the country

suffering neglect while people, resources, and services were concentrated in the capital. Funds in

the supplemental request would address both short- and long-term elements involved in this

decentralization strategy – meeting the immediate needs of newly displaced populations that have

migrated to less developed areas of the country, and strengthening local governance,

infrastructure, and agriculture to develop new “growth poles” outside of Port-au-Prince. Scientists

are helping Haitian authorities to select areas for development that are less vulnerable to natural

disasters. While there is general support of this strategy, officials also note that developing areas

long-neglected will be costly. Some also warn that populations should not be forcibly relocated in

executing these plans. Experts also warn that economic growth is not sufficient to reduce poverty

in Haiti, and that programs specifically targeted at poverty reduction are needed. As mentioned

earlier, the World Bank says that when the level of economic inequality is as high as Haiti’s, the

ability of economic growth to reduce poverty approaches zero.

Effective Capacity Building? Most observers agree that one goal of aid to Haiti should be to

build the capacity of Haitians so they can eventually assume responsibility for the project at hand.

Yet there is a tension between the standard definition of effectiveness and efficiency, and the time

and money required for capacity building. Aid organizations are pressed to have measureable

outcomes and usually operate on short-term contracts. If thorough training and coordinating with

Haitian ministries is to be an element of all foreign aid programs, which many experts advocate,

there will have to be a recognition that those programs may require more time, funding, and

personnel, and measureable results may take longer to achieve.

Dan Schnitzer, “Avoid the Old Poverty Traps,” Foreign Policy, January 19, 2010.

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Budget Priorities

Humanitarian assistance generally receives strong bipartisan congressional support and the

United States is typically a leader and major contributor to relief efforts in humanitarian

disasters.83 When disasters require immediate emergency relief, the Administration may fund

pledges by depleting its disaster accounts intended for worldwide use throughout a fiscal year.

President Obama announced the United States would provide $100 million in immediate aid for

Haiti. That aid is drawn from existing funds. The international community is also making

substantial donations toward meeting immediate needs.

Amid efforts to tackle rising budget deficits by, among other measures, slowing or reducing

discretionary spending or finding the resources to sustain U.S. aid pledges may be difficult. After

the 2004 tsunami disaster, some Members of Congress publicly expressed concern that funding

for tsunami relief and reconstruction, which depleted most worldwide disaster contingency

accounts, could jeopardize resources for subsequent international disasters or for other aid

priorities from which tsunami emergency aid had been transferred. These accounts were fully

restored through supplemental appropriations. At the time, others noted the substantial size of

American private donations for tsunami victims and argued that because of other budget

pressures, the United States government did not need to transfer additional aid beyond what was

already pledged. In Haiti, the full extent and cost of the disaster is not yet known. Disaster

accounts are being drawn down to provide relief to Haiti. The State Department reports that in

order to respond to future humanitarian crises, these resources would need to be replenished by

June 1, 2010. If not replenished, U.S. capacity to respond to other emergencies could be

impacted. The relief funding in the current FY2010 supplemental request would provide

reimbursement for funding already provided or obligated.

Congress may reevaluate and revise priorities and approaches of U.S. assistance to Haiti in light

of the changed conditions there. Issues that have previously concerned Congress have included

democracy building, development assistance and poverty reduction, security enhancement and

stability, counternarcotics efforts, police and judicial reform, and disaster recovery and

prevention.

Burdensharing and Donor Fatigue

The earthquake disaster in Haiti has received worldwide attention and focus. The government of

Haiti, the United States, the United Nations and many others have asked for and encouraged

governments to provide assistance. It is not always evident whether figures listing donor amounts

represent pledges of support or more specific obligations.84 Pledges made by governments do not

necessarily result in actual contributions. It also cannot be assumed that the funds committed to

relief actually represent new contributions, since the money may previously have been allocated

elsewhere. It will take time for a more complete picture to reveal how the actual costs of the Haiti

disaster will be shared among international donors. Comparing USG and international aid is also

For background information see CRS Report RL33769, International Crises and Disasters: U.S. Humanitarian

Assistance, Budget Trends, and Issues for Congress, by (name redacted).

Relief Web is a good source of information, although the accuracy is not guaranteed. See http://www.reliefweb.int.

Obtaining an exact up-to-date record of all international contributions in response to an ongoing disaster is often not

possible—in part because some assistance is not reported to governments or coordinating agencies—and in part

because of the delay in their recording.

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difficult because of the often dramatically different forms the assistance takes (in-kind

contributions vs. cash, for instance). As the situation in Haiti stabilizes, and early recovery and

reconstruction gets underway, sustaining donor interest in Haiti (and commitment to honor

existing pledges) could be a challenge. Moreover, this challenge is compounded by the need to

maintain funding priorities and secure funds needed for other disaster areas worldwide.

Coordinating the Relief Response in Haiti

Some have criticized the response by the international community in the actual delivery of

humanitarian assistance as far too slow. For example, in the days following the earthquake some

press reports commented on what they perceived to be a critical lack of food and water,

insufficient medical care for the wounded, the slow pace of search and rescue, and the nonexistent presence of law and order. Others have argued that there has been a great deal of unfair

criticism of the slowness of the international aid effort. The weakened capacity of the Haitian

government, critically damaged infrastructure, and logistical challenges posed by the influx of

massive aid into a city largely destroyed by the earthquake all contributed to delay and difficulties

on the ground.

Still others have been concerned about bureaucratic red tape, lack of civil-military cooperation,

control by the U.S. military of flight priorities at the Port-au-Prince airport, and overall

coordination issues. Evaluations of the relief response in Haiti will likely continue to be

conducted and debated as the humanitarian effort moves ahead. A disaster of this scope is almost

certain to run into many obstacles because the challenges on the ground are so daunting. While

managing expectations of what is possible under these circumstances is important, so too, are the

observations and lessons learned that with time and hindsight may benefit the actions and plans of

those responding to future disasters. A U.N. Inter-Agency Real Time Evaluation (RTE) Mission

was launched in April and will be conducted in several phases, the results of which will also be

incorporated into the implementation of the Revised Humanitarian Appeal.

Elections in Haiti

Another issue of concern to Congress is likely to involve arrangements regarding elections. The

Haitian Electoral Council is responsible for carrying out elections, and MINUSTAH provides

technical and logistical support. The United Nations is encouraging the Haitian government to get

back on an election schedule as soon as possible, to avoid the possible politically destabilizing

effect extended delays and rule by decree might create. The United States is encouraging Haiti to

hold presidential elections when they are due to be held, in fall 2011, and to combine them with

legislative elections.

There are currently enormous obstacles to conducting elections before year’s end. During the

earthquake, election experts were killed, and the U.N.’s offices were destroyed, along with

records and equipment. Throughout the country, many buildings in which elections are usually

held were destroyed. In addition, many Haitian citizens lost their identity cards, and many more

have been displaced and will need to register at their new locales. Some elections experts say it is

possible to carry the elections out this year if the preparations are begun immediately.

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Immigration, Adoption85

The devastation caused by the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti led Department of Homeland

Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitians

in the United States at the time of the earthquake. 86 As soon as the earthquake hit, some Members

of Congress had called for the Obama Administration to do so. On January 13, 2010, DHS had

announced that it was temporarily halting the deportation of Haitians. On January 15, 2010, DHS

Secretary Napolitano granted TPS to Haitian nationals for 18 months.

Haitian children who were legally confirmed as orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the

government of Haiti and who were in the process of being adopted by U.S. residents prior to the

earthquake have been given humanitarian parole to come to the United States. Other Haitian

orphans potentially eligible for humanitarian parole include children who were identified by an

adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and who were

matched to prospective American adoptive parents prior to January 12, 2010. 87 The parole

program stopped taking new applications on April 14, 2010. DHS anticipates that approximately

1,200 orphans will ultimately receive parole under this program. 88 The Haitian government says

its first priority regarding displaced children is to try to reunite them with relatives.

On January 29, 2010, 10 U.S. citizens, most from an Idaho Baptist group, were arrested in Haiti

and charged with child kidnapping and criminal association. The U.S. citizens were trying to

cross the Haitian border with the Dominican Republic with a busload of 33 children who they

said were orphaned by the January 12, 2010, earthquake. The U.S. citizens did not have

authorization to remove the children from Haiti, and it appears that many of the children were not

orphans. 89 On February 11, Haitian Judge Bernard Sainvil ordered the release of the U.S. citizens

on their own recognizance “because there had been no evidence demonstrating ‘criminal

intentions’ on their part to support charges of child kidnapping and criminal association leveled

against them.”90 The charges have been dropped against all 9 of the U.S. citizens, while the

remaining U.S. citizen will be tried in Haiti on the charge of arranging “irregular travel.”91

Prepared by (name redacted), Specialist in Immigration Policy, and (name redacted), Specialist in Immigration

Policy, Domestic Social Policy Division. For further information, see CRS Report RS21349, U.S. Immigration Policy

on Haitian Migrants, by (name redacted).

For additional information on Temporary Protected Status, see CRS Report RS20844, Temporary Protected Status:

Current Immigration Policy and Issues, by (name redacted) and (name redacted).

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “ Secretary Napolitano Announces Humanitarian Parole Policy for Certain

Haitian Orphans,” fact sheet, January 18, 2010.

Between January 18, 2010 and April 5, 2010, DHS authorized parole for more than 1,000 orphans under the special

program, and approximately 340 cases were still being considered. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,

“Special Humanitarian Parole Program for Haitian Orphans Draws to a Close at Request of Haitian Government,” fact

sheet, January 18, 2010.

Some of the parents have admitted to relinquishing their children willingly in the belief that they would have a better

life in the United States.

The judge’s name has also been spelled Saint-Vil in press reports. Joseph Guyler Delva, “Haiti Judge Rules for

Release of U.S. Missionaries,” The Windsor Star, February 11, 2010. Frank Bajak, “Lawyer Sees Ruling on Jailed

Missionaries Thursday,” Associated Press, February 11, 2010.

“Missionary from Idaho Faces Haiti Trial,” Yahoo News, April 27, 2010, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100427/

ts_alt_afp/haitiquakeuscrimechildren_20100427114458.

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Those Haitians who are given humanitarian parole to come to the United States are deemed

Cuban-Haitian Entrants and, thus, are among the subset of foreign nationals who are eligible for

federal benefits and cash assistance much like refugees. Those Haitians who are newly arriving

legal permanent residents, however, are barred from the major federal benefits and cash

assistance for the first five years after entry. The President has included funding to cover

additional costs for federal benefits and cash assistance resulting from Haitians evacuees, among

other activities in his FY2010 supplemental request. Specifically, the President has requested

$220.0 million for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fund four types of

activities, of which two are directly related to Haitians brought to the United States after the

earthquake. 92 These two are: the state share of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance

Program (CHIP) costs for eligible Haitians; and cash, medical, and repatriation assistance for

eligible Haitians. The supplemental request also includes $15 million for the U.S. Citizenship and

Immigration Services to use for fee waivers for eligible Haitians granted TPS, those given

humanitarian parole to bring medical evacuees and certain categories of Haitians into the United

States, and to cover costs associated with processing the adoption of Haitian orphans.

According to the Department of State, there are 54,716 Haitians who have approved petitions to

immigrate to the United States and who are waiting for visas to become available. Advocates for

Haitians are asking Secretary Napolitano to give humanitarian parole to those Haitians with

approved petitions for visas. Proponents of expediting the admission of Haitians with family in

the United States maintain that it would relieve at least some of the humanitarian burden in Haiti

and would increase the remittances sent back to Haiti to provide critical help as the nation tries to

rebuild. Those opposed to expediting the admission of Haitians assert that it would not be in the

national interest, nor would it be fair to others foreign nationals waiting to reunite with their

families.

There are growing concerns that the crisis conditions in Haiti may result in mass migration from

the country. The phenomenon of Haitians coming to the United States by boat without proper

travel documents dates back at least to the 1970s. The Reagan Administration reached an

agreement in 1981 with the Haitian government to interdict (i.e., stop and search certain vessels

suspected of transporting undocumented Haitians), and this policy, with some modifications, has

continued. During the first two weeks of February, the U.S. Coast Guard returned almost 90

Haitians found at sea to northern Haiti, although U.S. officials say there is no sign of a mass

exodus from Haiti by sea.93 If mass migration were to occur, Congress may weigh in on the

balancing of immigration control responsibilities with humanitarian concerns in the midst of

Haiti’s humanitarian disaster.

Medical Evacuation94

In the initial weeks after the earthquake, U.S. military airlifts brought non-U.S.-citizen Haitians to

Florida for medical care that was unavailable in Haiti. These patients, who often had very serious

injuries, were admitted to a number of non-federal hospitals, principally in south Florida. On

January 27, 2010, Florida Governor Charlie Crist wrote to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the

The other two activities included in $220 million request for HHS would cover costs associated with medical

evacuations and costs for HHS public health activities in Haiti, which is discussed elswhere.

Associated Press, “CG intercepts Haitian migrants, sends them home,” Navy Times, February 16, 2010.

Prepared by (name redacted), Specialist in Public Health and Epideb miology, Domestic Social Policy Division.

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Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), saying that the state’s health care system

was reaching saturation, and asking Sebelius to activate the National Disaster Medical System

(NDMS) to coordinate the distribution of medical evacuees to other states, and to compensate

states for the costs of their care.95 On February 1, 2010, HHS announced that it was activating the

NDMS hospital component.96 Federal medical evacuations resumed at that point, but are no

longer underway as of early March, 2010,97 as the most critical needs have abated or can now be

addressed in Haiti.

HHS administers the NDMS, which consists of three components for the response to mass

casualty incidents. 98 First, teams of medical providers deploy rapidly to provide critical medical

care in disaster conditions when local health care capacity has been destroyed or overwhelmed. 99

Second, NDMS provides medical evacuation, the coordinated movement of seriously ill or

injured victims to sites where they can receive definitive care. Typically, U.S. military assets such

as cargo planes and attending medical personnel are used for this purpose. Third, participating

U.S. hospitals agree to provide medical care to NDMS evacuees on a voluntary basis, and receive

federal reimbursement at 110% of the Medicare rate.

The first NDMS component is used frequently. Teams are deployed many times each year in

response to domestic disasters (for which deployment costs are typically paid by the Federal

Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund100) and international humanitarian relief

efforts (for which deployment costs are often paid by USAID). NDMS teams were deployed to

Haiti shortly after the earthquake. In contrast, the second (medical evacuation) and third (U.S.

participating hospital) NDMS components have rarely been activated. Although U.S. military

flights had initially brought Haitian medical evacuees to Florida during January, the NDMS

hospital component had not yet been activated, and it was not clear at that time if the federal

government would assume the costs of care for those patients.

The HHS Secretary has considerable discretion with respect to the activation of NDMS. No

specific legal triggers or other requirements must be met.101 However, the Secretary does not have

a dedicated funding mechanism to support extensive NDMS deployments. Under HHS policy for

this incident, NDMS will reimburse hospitals for the costs of care, for 30 days, for any individual

who was medically evacuated from Haiti by NMDS, regardless of citizenship or nationality.102

NDMS does not pay costs beyond 30 days, costs for services provided by non-hospital facilities

(such as rehabilitation facilities), or costs for the care of individuals who were not evacuated

through the NDMS system. President Obama has requested emergency supplemental funding to

Marc Caputo, “Florida Hospitals Insist They're Ready to Welcome Haitian Patients,” The Miami Herald, January 31,

2010.

HHS, “HHS Activates Additional Components of National Disaster Medical System to Help U.S. Hospitals Treat

Survivors of Earthquake in Haiti,” press release, February 1, 2010, http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Communication from HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, March 8, 2010.

HHS, “National Disaster Medical System Helping U.S. Hospitals Treat Survivors of Earthquake in Haiti,” undated,

http://www.hhs.gov/haiti/ndms_ushospitals.html.

Team members are typically not federal employees, but are designated as intermittent federal employees during

deployments.

100

See CRS Report RL33053, Federal Stafford Act Disaster Assistance: Presidential Declarations, Eligible Activities,

and Funding, by (name redacted).

101

Public Health Service Act § 2812; 42 U.S.C. § 300hh–11.

102

HHS, “Payments for National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Patients and Other Medical Evacuees from Haiti,”

questions and answers, March 19, 2010, provided to CRS by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislation.

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Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response

support the Haiti earthquake response. The request includes $220 million for HHS, which would

be used, among other things, to reimburse NDMS hospitals that cared for medical evacuees.103

Tax Incentives for Charitable Donations

In a bipartisan effort, Congress passed a bill designed to increase charitable donations to Haiti.

The Haiti Assistance Income Tax Incentive (HAITI) Act (signed into law January 22, 2010, P.L.

111-126) accelerates income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of

earthquake victims. It allows taxpayers to deduct donations made in early 2010 on their income

tax returns for 2009. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the HAITI Act would lead

to U.S. revenue losses of about $2 million. 104 Information on how to make charitable donations is

in Appendix I.

Trade Preferences105

One long-standing targeted policy that the U.S. Congress has taken to support economic

development in Caribbean countries is to provide tariff preferences for their exports. Haiti is

eligible for such benefits under the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA—P.L. 106200) and the Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act, as

amended (P.L. 110-246). In particular, flexible and generous tariff preferences are provided to

Haiti’s apparel assembly business, which has been established for decades, with admittedly mixed

success over time, and viewed by many as one pillar of economic growth in an economy with

limited opportunities in the short-run.106

The U.S. Congress continued to support this approach with the Haiti Economic Lift Program

(HELP) Act (S. 3275), introduced on April 28, 2010. The bill, which had bicameral and bipartisan

support, extends the CBTPA and the Haiti HOPE Act through FY2020. It focuses on expanding

preferences for apparel exports, benefits some have argued might also be extended to other

industries to help promote economic diversification. Currently, however, such opportunities are

very limited, and Congress appears to have opted to review the HOPE Act carefully and enhance

those trade preferences rules that have had the most demonstrable effect in stimulating increased

apparel production and exports for the U.S. market, and by extension, job creation in Haiti.

Apparel accounts for 93% of Haitian exports to the United States and reflects a comparative

advantage based on low-cost labor and proximity to the U.S. market. Earthquake damage to

apparel firms created new hardships for this industry, and there is need for a considerable increase

in both domestic and foreign investment for the apparel industry to survive and expand. Of the 23

103

White House Office of Management and Budget, “Estimate #3—FY 2010 Emergency Supplemental Proposals in

the FY 2011 Budget for Costs Associated with Relief and Reconstruction Support for Haiti following the Earthquake of

January 12, 2010, ... ,” March 24, 2010, pp. 13-14, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/budget_amendments/

amendment_03_24_10.pdf.

104

For further information, see CRS Report R41036, Charitable Contributions for Haiti’s Earthquake Victims, by

(name redacted).

105

Prepared by (name redacted), Specialist in International Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade

Division. For further information, see CRS Report RL34687, The Haitian Economy and the HOPE Act, by (name

redacted).

106

For further information, see CRS Report RL34687, The Haitian Economy and the HOPE Act, by (name redacted).

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Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response

plants operating in late 2009, the earthquake completely destroyed one, killing some 500 people,

and seriously damaged four others. Currently 19 are fully operational, two are being relocated,

and two are closed. Employment attendance rates have returned to levels seen prior to the

earthquake, but with fewer factories operating, total employment has fallen from 26,500 to

23,300. Monthly apparel exports have declined from $58.2 million in February 2009 to $33.1

million in February 2010.

Focusing trade assistance on this sector attempts to respond to Haiti’s level of development and

play into the best prospects for creating employment in the near term. The strategy does have its

critics, who argue that it has had limited effects in the past and should be employed within a

broader development plan that seeks to diversify growth of output and exports over the longer

term. In addition, critics contend that more needs to be done to provide better job opportunities as

the country faces wholesale reconstruction. Congress recognizes these problems and has

responded with broader development assistance and within the parameters of the HOPE Act with

the detailed labor provisions. For example, the HOPE Act has put in place a system that requires

Haitian firms that wish to avail themselves of the tariff preferences to conform to internationally

recognized labor standards, and submit to an independent factory monitoring system operated by

the United Nations.

Constituent Concerns

Lawmakers are also helping constituents find persons missing in Haiti. Information on how to

help them do so is in Appendix H. Members were also helping citizens in Haiti leave Haiti. Now

that commercial air traf

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