IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5586 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
NOVEMBER 30, 2020 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To measure the progress of recovery and efforts to address 
corruption, rule of law, and media freedoms in Haiti. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haiti Development, 
Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On January 12, 2010, a massive earth-
quake struck near the Haitian capital city of Port- 
au-Prince, leaving an estimated 220,000 people 
dead, including 103 United States citizens, 101 
United Nations personnel, and nearly 18 percent of 
the nation’s civil service, as well as 300,000 injured, 
115,000 homes destroyed, and 1,500,000 people dis-
placed. 
(2) The Post Disaster Needs Assessment con-
ducted by the Government of Haiti, the United Na-
tions, the World Bank, the Inter-American Develop-
ment Bank, and others estimated that damage and 
economic losses from the January 12, 2010, earth-
quake totaled $7,804,000,000. 
(3) The international community, led by the 
United States and the United Nations, mounted an 
unprecedented humanitarian response to the earth-
quake in Haiti. Through 2018, more than $8 billion 
has been disbursed by donors. Since the 2010 earth-
quake, the United States Government has disbursed 
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more than $4 billion in recovery and development 
funding. 
(4) On October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew 
struck southwestern Haiti on the Tiburon Peninsula, 
causing widespread damage and flooding and leaving 
1.4 million people in need of immediate assistance. 
Recovery efforts continue more than 3 years later. 
(5) Prior to both the earthquake and hurricane, 
Haiti registered among the lowest socioeconomic in-
dicators and had the second highest rate of income 
disparity in the world—conditions that have further 
complicated disaster recovery and resilience efforts. 
(6) In June 2019 the World Food Program re-
ported that Haiti has one of the highest levels of 
chronic food insecurity in the world, with more than 
half of its total population chronically food insecure 
and 22 percent of children chronically malnourished. 
(7) In October 2010, an unprecedented out-
break of cholera in Haiti resulted in over 800,000 
reported cases and over 9,000 deaths to date. The 
Pan American Health Organization reported in 2018 
that the cholera incidence rate in Haiti is 25.5 cases 
per 100,000. 
(8) With United States assistance, almost 
14,000 jobs have been created since the 2010 earth-
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quake, largely in the apparel industry at the Caracol 
Industrial Park (in partnership with the Inter-Amer-
ican Development Bank, the Haitian Government, 
and the private sector) in northern Haiti. 
(9) According to the Haitian National Human 
Rights Defense Network, on November 13, 2018, at 
least 59 people were shot and killed in the Port-au- 
Prince neighborhood of La Saline. After months of 
investigations, no one has been held responsible for 
the La Saline massacre. 
(10) Since 2018, tens of thousands of Haitians 
have participated in popular demonstrations de-
manding accountability over government manage-
ment of Petrocaribe resources. In early 2019, the 
Haitian superior court of auditors released a series 
of reports implicating high-level government officials 
in the misappropriation of funds. 
(11) From August 2018 through February 
2019, local human rights organizations reported that 
64 Haitian citizens were killed in protests. 
(12) According to the Committee to Protect 
Journalists, five Haitian journalists were shot while 
covering protests in 2019 and one was killed. On 
September 23, 2019, Associated Press photo-
journalist Chery Dieu-Nalio was shot by Haitian 
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Senator Jean Marie Ralph Fe´thie`re when the Sen-
ator fired multiple shots near a crowd outside of 
parliament. 
(13) Economic growth in Haiti is projected to 
drop below 1.5 percent this year. Inflation is esti-
mated to be 15 percent and the local currency has 
depreciated by 30 percent in the past year. The Hai-
tian government and parliament have failed to pass 
a budget for 2 years, preventing the International 
Monetary Fund and other multilaterals from dis-
bursing millions in international assistance. 
(14) Midterm elections set for October 2019 did 
not take place, and since January 2020 President 
Moise has ruled by decree. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to support the 
sustainable rebuilding and development of Haiti in a man-
ner that— 
(1) recognizes Haitian independence, self-reli-
ance, sovereignty, democratic governance, and effi-
ciency; 
(2) promotes Haitian-led efforts for reconstruc-
tion and development of Haiti; 
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(3) strengthens the capacity of civil society and 
supports private sector initiatives that foster eco-
nomic opportunities in Haiti; 
(4) fosters collaboration between the Haitian di-
aspora in the United States and the Haitian Govern-
ment; 
(5) combats impunity and prioritizes delivering 
justice to victims of human rights abuses; 
(6) ensures the protection of press freedoms 
and promotion of a free and independent Haitian 
press; 
(7) promotes respect for freedom of assembly 
and the rights of Haitians to peacefully demonstrate; 
(8) demands increased transparency and ac-
countability among all branches of government and 
supports anti-corruption and addresses human 
rights concerns; 
(9) prioritizes strengthening community resil-
ience to environmental and weather-related impacts; 
and 
(10) promotes democratic principles, including 
free, fair, and timely elections in accordance with the 
Haitian Constitution. 
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