I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2471 
To measure the progress of post-disaster recovery and efforts to address 
corruption, governance, rule of law, and media freedoms in Haiti. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 13, 2021 
Mr. JEFFRIES (for himself and Mr. WALTZ) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To measure the progress of post-disaster recovery and efforts 
to address corruption, governance, 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, 
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- 
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au-Prince, leaving at least 220,000 people dead, in-
cluding 103 United States citizens, 101 United Na-
tions personnel, and nearly 18 percent of Haiti’s 
civil service, as well as 300,000 injured, 115,000 
homes destroyed, and 1,500,000 Haitians displaced. 
(2) 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 
$8,000,000,000 has been disbursed by donors. Since 
the 2010 earthquake, the United States Government 
has disbursed more than $4,000,000,000 in recovery 
and development funding. 
(3) 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 four years 
later. 
(4) Prior to both the 2010 earthquake and 
2016 hurricane, Haiti registered among the lowest 
in socioeconomic indicators and had the second high-
est rate of income disparity in the world—conditions 
that have further complicated disaster recovery and 
resilience efforts. As of November 2020, 4,400,000 
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people are in need of humanitarian assistance in 
Haiti. 
(5) With United States assistance, more than 
30,000 jobs have been created since the 2010 earth-
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. 
(6) 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. 
(7) The United Nations Human Rights Office 
of the High Commissioner and the Human Rights 
Service jointly found a 333 percent increase in 
human rights violations and abuses against the 
rights of life and security from July 2018 through 
December 2019. There were 131 violations in 2018 
and 567 violations in 2019, including the shooting of 
at least one journalist covering the protests. 
(8) Leading members of civil society have faced 
attacks, including Monferrier Dorval, a constitu-
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