The World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, and theEuropean Union co-sponsored an International Donors Conference on Haiti in Washington, D.C.,on July 19- 20, 2004. Representatives from 30 countries and 32 international organizations attended. The sponsors held the conference to garner financial support for the international assistance strategy,known as the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF), which the interim Haitian governmentdeveloped in conjunction with the four sponsoring organizations. (1) The ICF, released in July2004, outlines Haiti's priority needs and programs for 2004-2006. The Interim CooperationFramework will provide assistance during the interim government, and through September 2006,which will be the end of the fiscal year and eight months into the newly elected government ifelections proceed as scheduled. Its short term goal is stabilization, with the intention that ICFprograms will lead to a participatory process that will produce a long term strategy for povertyreduction. The Interim Cooperation Framework estimated Haiti's needs to total $1.37 billion, and sought$924 million through the donors conference to meet the two-year funding gap. The sponsorsannounced on July 20 that international organizations and governments had pledged $1.085 billionover the next two years to help Haiti rebuild its infrastructure, strengthen institutions, and improvebasic services. The United States committed to provide $230 million for FY2004-FY2005. Donorshave held several conferences since July 2004 reaffirming the support of the international communityfor Haiti's transition process under the Interim Cooperation Framework. Aristide's government fell apart amidst violent protests and pressure from the United States,France, and others. Aristide went into exile, eventually landing in South Africa, where he remainstoday. An interim government was established, with Supreme Court Chief Justice BonifaceAlexandre assuming the Presidency, as outlined in the Haitian constitution, on February 29, 2004. That same day, the United Nations unanimously authorized an international force to help restoreorder, which was replaced in June 2004 by a U.N. peacekeeping force. Gerard LaTortue wasappointed Prime Minister through a compromise process. The interim government negotiated anagreement with opposition political groups to delay elections until the fall of 2005, with a newpresident to be sworn in on February 7, 2006. The government has already postponed electionsseveral times this fall, and reportedly has now scheduled presidential and legislative elections forDecember 27, and runoff elections for January 31, 2006. A weak political structure combined with ongoing political tensions, violence, and humanrights violations make it difficult to pursue the goals of the Interim Cooperation Framework. Someobservers express concern that, unless security conditions improve quickly and opposition partiesfeel free to participate, organizing elections that will be considered free, fair, and safe will beextremely difficult. (For more information on Aristide's terms and the interim government, see CRS Report RL32294 , Haiti: Developments and U.S. Policy Since 1991 and Current CongressionalConcerns, by [author name scrubbed].) The Interim Cooperation Framework addresses many of the developmental concerns for Haitithat have been expressed by Congress. Congressional concerns about its implementation centeraround the rate at which funds are being disbursed, and the effectiveness of the assistance provided. The interim government of Haiti developed the Interim Cooperation Framework inconjunction with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, andthe European Union. In addition to many offices of the interim Haitian government, some 32foreign governments and international organizations, and eight Haitian associations contributed insome form to the two-year development plan. Over 170 international and Haitian organizations wereconsulted during the preparation of the Interim Cooperation Framework. There is an unprecedented amount of coordination for aid to Haiti among donors and withthe government for the Interim Cooperation Framework. A Joint Committee for the Implementationand Monitoring of the Interim Cooperation Framework includes members of the Haitian government,Haitian civil society, and the donor community. The Prime Minister, Planning Minister, and FinanceMinister represent Haiti; the Inter-American Bank, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), theWorld Bank, and foreign aid agencies for the United States (USAID), Canada, and the EuropeanUnion represent the donors; and the Civil Society Initiative, Growth Group, and the Association ofArtisans represent Haitian civil society. This committee conducts the oversight of the ICF. Reporting to the Committee through a Secretariat are "sectoral tables." There are several sectoraltables for each pillar of the ICF. Haitian government and donor counterparts lead small groups inmonitoring the implementation of ICF projects for individual sectors, or groups of sectors, such asthe Sector Table for Agriculture and Water and Sanitation. The donors have also held meetings todiscuss the rate of progress, shortfalls, and shifts of funds to respond to emerging priorities. The Interim Cooperation Framework establishes priority needs and projects that fall underfour broad categories, or "axes": political governance and national dialogue; economic governanceand institutional development; economic recovery; and access to basic services. For each of thesefour strategic axes, the Framework provides a strategy, priority objectives, and monitoring indicators. Each axis of the Framework, its priorities, and the projects designed to address them are discussedbelow. Axis 1: Strengthen Political Governance and NationalDialogue. Politics in Haiti have generally been violent and authoritarian ever sinceHaiti became an independent republic in 1804. Haiti was headed by some 30 despotic rulers fromindependence to the collapse of the 30-year Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. In the late 1980s, a strongdemocratic movement emerged leading to a new constitution that guaranteed personal liberties,distributed power among a president, a Prime Minister, and two legislative chambers, and createdan independent judiciary and an electoral council to oversee democratic elections. The first electionsthat were generally considered free and fair were held in 1990, bringing Aristide to power. Nascentdemocratic institutions were frail, however, and authoritarian traditions strong. Succumbing to along tradition in Haiti, President Aristide was ousted by violent means -- in this case a military coup-- in 1991. After he was restored to office by a U.S.-led military force in 1994, neither he nor hissuccessor, Rene Preval, was able to maintain fully functioning governments or hold fully credibleelections. Although the 1987 constitution remains in force, many of its provisions are not respected inpractice. No parliament has been regarded by the international community or the opposition as fullylegitimate since 1997. The Department of State Human Rights Report for 2004 calls Haiti's judicialsystem "largely moribund," and "subject to significant influence by the executive and legislativebranches." Political parties are mostly vehicles for individual ambitions. Haitian society has becomeincreasingly polarized. Some observers have criticized successive Haitian governments fortolerating, and in some cases facilitating, violence against members of the opposition. At the sametime, observers criticize the opposition for also employing violent means, and for limitingthemselves to a strategy of rejection rather than negotiation. (2) The priorities under this axis include programs directed at: Security, police and demobilization, disarmament and reintegration. Priorities include enhancing security by professionalizing the Haitian National Police and disarmingthe numerous illegal armed groups in the country. The police force became politicized underAristide. Armed groups include Aristide supporters and rebels who contributed to Aristide's ouster. Violence increased during the months preceding that ouster, and part of MINUSTAH's mission isto help the government demobilize and disarm these groups and try to reintegrate them into Haitainsociety. Justice, penitentiary institutions and human rights. Priorities includetaking measures against impunity, and promoting judicial independence and capacity throughtraining of judicial and penitentiary personnel, and rehabilitation of physical infrastructure;promoting respect for human rights and basic freedoms by strengthening government institutionsresponsible for protecting citizens from abuse by the government; and promoting cooperationbetween the government and non-governmental organizations that promote and protect humanrights. Electoral process. Priorities include holding free, credible elections, with theU.N. mission (MINUSTAH) and the Organization of American States (OAS) supporting Haiti'sProvisional Electoral Council in organizing the elections and ensuring security for them. Presidentialand legislative elections are scheduled for fall of 2005, with the transfer of power to take place onFebruary 7, 2006, but the dates have been changed several times and may be postponed yet again. Promotion of national dialogue. Priorities include encouraging politicaldialogue among all sectors of Haitian society to promote national reconciliation, and solutions tolocal and national problems based on consensus. The Interim Cooperation Framework is consideredpart of this process. By involving many sectors of society in creating national plans of developmentsuch as the ICF, a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, and Millennium Development Goals, theinterim government and the international community hope to establish a framework for nationaldialogue revolving around development priorities. Axis 2: Strengthen Economic Governance and InstitutionalDevelopment. Use of public coffers for personal wealth has gone on for much ofHaiti's history. It became so rampant under the Duvalier regime (1957-1986) that it became knownas a "kleptocracy." According to the ICF (p.18), "Weaknesses in economic governance have beenone of the most serious impediments to economic growth and poverty reduction in Haiti," and "[T]hecurrent state of economic governance is dismal." The priorities under this axis include programs directed at: Economic governance.