III 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 414 

Expressing the Sense of the Senate on the recovery, rehabilitation, and 

rebuilding of Haiti following the humanitarian crisis caused by the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 8), 2010 

Mr. KERRY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the Sense of the Senate on the recovery, rehabilitation, and rebuilding of Haiti following the humanitarian crisis caused by the January 12, 2010, earthquake 

in Haiti. 

Whereas on January 12, 2010, Haiti suffered an earthquake 

measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, the greatest natural 

disaster in Haiti’s history, which— 

(1) devastated Port-au-Prince and the surrounding 

areas; 

(2) killed more than 100,000 people; 

(3) injured hundreds of thousands more people; and 

(4) left many hundreds of thousands of people homeless; 


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Whereas Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western 

Hemisphere— 

(1) has an estimated 54 percent of its population living on less than $1 per day; 

(2) has approximately 120,000 people living with 

HIV; 

(3) had 29,333 new cases of Tuberculosis in 2007; 

and 

(4) has nearly 400,000 children living in orphanages; 

Whereas despite these challenges, cautious signs of developmental progress and stability were beginning to emerge 

in Haiti prior to the earthquake; 

Whereas although initial recovery efforts must continue to assist the people of Haiti struggling to secure basic necessities, including food, water, health care, shelter, and 

electricity, Haiti cannot afford to only focus on its immediate needs; 

Whereas various United States and international assessments 

indicate that the next priority for the Government of 

Haiti should be to repair the country’s basic infrastructure, including its schools, roads, hospitals, telecommunications infrastructure, and government buildings; 

Whereas Haiti’s leaders have advocated that— 

(1) reconstruction should not follow the inefficient 

practices of the past; and 

(2) Haitians should be given the opportunity to accelerate and implement long planned reforms and new 

ways of doing business in every sector; 

Whereas Haiti enjoys several advantages that can facilitate 

its rebuilding, including— 


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(1) people committed to education and hard work; 

(2) duty-free, quota-free access to United States 

markets; 

(3) a large pool of low-cost labor; 

(4) a large, hardworking North American diaspora 

sending money back to Haiti; and 

(5) regional neighbors who are peaceful, prosperous, 

and supportive of Haiti’s success; 

Whereas international experience from rebuilding other countries recovering from natural disaster confirms that— 

(1) stability and security are essential preconditions 

to longer-term development; and 

(2) economic development and political reform 

should relieve poverty and foster governance and social 

justice; 

Whereas employment is essential to breaking the vicious cycle 

of poverty, corruption, insecurity, and loss of faith in democracy; 

Whereas the Haitian people, like all people, deserve the income and dignity that gainful employment provides; 

Whereas, in addition to providing emergency assistance and 

relief, the Government of Haiti must grapple with the 

longer-term issue of how to provide permanent, sustainable shelter to an estimated 1,000,000 Haitians displaced 

by the earthquake; 

Whereas, the impact of natural disaster on Haiti is— 

(1) exacerbated by weak building codes and poor infrastructure; and 

(2) more fundamentally the result of an impoverished state unable to provide most of its people with 


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minimal public services, including security, clean water, 

shelter, electricity, health care, and education; 

Whereas assistance to Haiti should be delivered in a manner 

that enhances, not diminishes, the ability of the state to 

provide services to its people; 

Whereas the Haitian state should be rebuilt with communities in a central role in the national recovery process 

led by the Government of Haiti, so that foreign assistance upholds and empowers Haitian mayors, local councils, and municipalities in areas outside of Port-auPrince; and 

Whereas international donors and nongovernmental organizations, which have a responsibility to support the Government of Haiti in its rebuilding efforts, should not supplant the ability of local institutions and the government 

to manage resources and provide essential services: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) urges the United States Government and 

3 the international community to provide resources, 

4 manpower, and technical assistance to support the 

5 Government of Haiti’s leadership of international as6 sistance efforts and to conduct a comprehensive 

7 post-disaster needs assessment that will focus on— 

8 (A) social sector services, including access 

9 to, and delivery of, basic services, including— 


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1 (i) health care delivery, including rein2 stating disrupted care and addressing new 

3 needs; 

4 (ii) all levels of education, including 

5 ensuring access to lessons as quickly as 

6 possible; 

7 (iii) social support for communities; 

8 (iv) improving the welfare of children; 

9 and 

10 (v) recognition of the importance of 

11 gender equality and the role of women as 

12 economic guardians; 

13 (B) population resettlement, including 

14 services and sustainable livelihoods to support 

15 new communities and settlements; 

16 (C) stable and democratic governance, en17 suring that the Government of Haiti will appro18 priately steward state resources through a proc19 ess embracing transparency, civic participation, 

20 political moderation, and institutional account21 ability; 

22 (D) economic sustainability, emphasizing 

23 employment generation, macroeconomic sta24 bility, and market economy sustainability; 


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1 (E) security, ensuring legitimate state ef2 forts to prevent and respond to crime, especially 

3 violence, and instilling public order and con4 fidence in Haitian security forces; and 

5 (F) rule of law, developing a just legal 

6 framework that— 

7 (i) is accountable; 

8 (ii) provides access to justice; and 

9 (iii) ensures public order; 

10 (2) encourages the United States Government 

11 and the international community to support the 

12 leadership of the Government of Haiti and key non13 governmental and private sector Haitian stake14 holders to create a comprehensive national strategy 

15 for recovery and development that will— 

16 (A) be led by the Government of Haiti; 

17 (B) address the findings from the needs 

18 assessment conducted under paragraph (1); 

19 (C) coordinate new resources flowing into 

20 Haiti; 

21 (D) channel such resources in concrete and 

22 specific ways towards key sectoral objectives 

23 identified by the Government of Haiti and its 

24 people; 


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1 (E) take feasible steps to recognize and 

2 rectify the social injustice of poverty, and de3 crease the vulnerability of the poor, through job 

4 creation, the provision of health care, the provi5 sion of safe shelter and settlements, food secu6 rity, and education; 

7 (F) place communities at the center of the 

8 rebuilding process, by employing local labor and 

9 consulting local leaders and communities for 

10 their experience and vision; 

11 (G) encourage rebuilding and development 

12 of programs that are environmentally sustain13 able and respectful and restorative of Haiti’s 

14 natural resources; 

15 (H) work with the Government of Haiti 

16 and the international community to reduce the 

17 risk of future disasters, including floods and 

18 hurricanes, through the relief and recovery ef19 forts focusing on the most vulnerable commu20 nities; and 

21 (I) address the difficult issues related to 

22 land use, land tenure, the need for land for re23 construction, and land price escalations; 


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1 (3) applauds the international community’s re2 sponse to the preliminary appeal for assistance made 

3 at Montreal, Canada, on January 25, 2010; 

4 (4) affirms that— 

5 (A) the international donors conference for 

6 Haiti, which will be held in New York on March 

7 22–23, 2010, is an opportunity for Haiti to ac8 celerate and implement long-planned projects 

9 and priorities in key infrastructural, economic, 

10 and social sectors outlined in a comprehensive 

11 national strategy; 

12 (B) large-scale international assistance 

13 provides significant leverage to promote change 

14 and reform in Haiti; and 

15 (C) the international community should be 

16 prepared to fully commit to the outcomes of the 

17 New York donors conference, including full dis18 bursement and subsequent implementation; 

19 (5) encourages international financial institu20 tions and international organizations, including the 

21 United Nations and the World Bank, to continue 

22 their engagement and leadership in support of crit23 ical economic and security priorities, including— 

24 (A) economic and social assistance pro25 grams; 


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1 (B) strengthening Haitian national institu2 tions; 

3 (C) security sector reform; 

4 (D) ensuring fair and legitimate elections; 

5 and 

6 (E) supporting political and governance re7 form; 

8 (6) encourages the International Monetary 

9 Fund, the World Bank, and the Inter-American De10 velopment Bank, which hold the majority of Haiti’s 

11 existing external debt obligations, to— 

12 (A) work together to relieve Haiti of its ex13 ternal debt obligations to the multilateral com14 munity and bilateral lenders; and 

15 (B) seek considerable new resources for 

16 Haiti without adding to Haiti’s existing debt 

17 obligations, primarily through provision of 

18 grants; and 

19 (7) urges the United States Government to en20 sure unity of effort by assigning a single person to— 

21 (A) coordinate all aspects of United States 

22 assistance to Haiti; and 

23 (B) work with Congress to responsibly en24 sure sufficient appropriations to facilitate the 


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1 long-term and sustainable recovery, rehabilita2 tion, and development of Haiti. 

Æ 


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