Haiti on the Hill
By Jane Charles-Voltaire

As the Haitian government continues to squabble over the election of a prime minister, kidnappings appear to be on the rise, and close to 80 percent of the population is suffering from a food crisis.  But in the United States bi-partisan legislators are actively pushing for bills that might help to alleviate some of the load in terms of Haiti’s debt, foreign investment and the phenomenon of the brain drain.  

On the Senate side, one bill which supporters hope will start moving in the Senate committee on Foreign Relations, is S. 2166, the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2007, which was introduced by Senator Casey in October 2007. An identical bill, HR 2634, passed in the house this past April and is now awaiting a Senate vote.

During a recent interview, Policy Coordinator Danielle Pals at Jubilee USA Network (an alliance of multi-denominational, multi-sectoral activists supporting international debt cancellation in Asia, Africa and Latin America) spoke on the reality of Haiti today, arguing that in countries such as Haiti, where the government is incapable of feeding its people, “there is no such thing as sustainable debt.” Haiti is currently paying $1 million a week in debt repayment. Pals notes that if passed, S. 2166/HR. 2634 will eliminate debts owed by impoverished countries and establish “an international framework for borrowing”, which will be prohibitive of harmful conditions including government corruption and mismanagement of funds. This, Pals argues, would help to deter qualifying countries from over-borrowing but also force lenders to take responsibility and engage in what the bill calls “more productive investment choices and engaging in more responsible lending and borrowing in the future.” These kinds of stipulations certainly seem to be an improvement on previous lending policies which led to situations in certain countries, such as Haiti, where the money never benefited the people.

On another front, two bills H.R. 6142, (an act to amend the African Growth and Opportunity Act relating to preferential treatment to apparel articles of lesser developed countries), and H.R. 1001, (an act to amend the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2006-HOPE Act of 2006-to extend the date for the President to determine if Haiti meets certain requirements, and for other purposes), are trying to raise employment rates in Haiti by, as Ambassador Raymond Joseph stated in a recent interview, “opening up Haiti to textile apparel manufactures, tariff free.”

Ambassador Joseph, who was appointed to his post in 2005, commented that these amendments have both been structured to encourage economic growth, by specifically encouraging textile manufacturers to use Haitian labor, tariff free. Joseph noted that the increase in textile production had already produced over 10,000 jobs since the first HOPE Act was passed in 2006.  And Joseph mentioned that the original HOPE Act had certain limiting restrictions to products and time span, which have been extended in HOPE Act 2 legislation.

Finally, in an attempt to counter-act the negative effects of the brain drain syndrome, a result of the high immigration and the lack of available opportunities for professionals in several developing countries, which has left many of these countries desperate to find aptly qualified individuals in fields ranging from health and education to agriculture and engineering, Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced H.R. 6255, the Next Steps for Haiti Act of 2008, on Thursday, June 12th. H.R. 6255 would create collaboration between the Director of Foreign Assistance, the democratically elected government of Haiti and the representatives from civil society groups to create what would be known as the “Haiti Professional Exchange Program.” The bill states that this program would serve to then encourage qualified Haitian-Americans and others “to help Haiti improve in areas vital to its growth and development, which may include education, energy, environment, healthcare, infrastructure, security, transportation, and disaster preparedness.” At this point in time, the bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs committee.

As the situation has become increasingly dire in Haiti, one hopes that that the legislation will in fact succeed in fostering economic development as well as establishing a basis for lasting positive solutions to the country’s most abysmal problems.