For Immediate Release

Statement of Senator Christopher J. Dodd
Committee on Foreign Relations
A Fresh Start for Haiti: Charting the Future of U.S. Haitian Relations

March 10, 2004

Mr. Chairman, I want to commend you for holding this important hearing on Haiti today. Not only does it give subcommittee members the opportunity to look back at what went wrong, but perhaps even more important, it gives us an opportunity to look forward to see how the United States and other members of the international community can be more effective in furthering democracy in this hemisphere.

We are all well aware that on Sunday, February 29, a democratically elected head of government in our own hemisphere was forced out of office. An armed insurrection led by former members of the disbanded Haitian army and its paramilitary wing FRAPH, made it impossible for the Aristide government to maintain public order.

And, notwithstanding the fact that in 2001 the US, Haiti and 32 other members of the OAS adopted something called the InterAmerican Democratic Charter, and therein pledged to "respond rapidly and collectively in defense of democracy, virtually nothing was done by the US or other OAS members to come to the aid of the beleaguered Aristide administration.

Frankly, it makes me wonder whether the InterAmerican Democratic Charter is worth the paper it is printed on. I suspect others throughout the hemisphere do as well.

I give credit to members of CARICOM who valiantly attempted to rescue one of theirown. Sadly their urgent entreaties to the United Nations Security Council to take up the cause of Haiti fell on deaf ears.

President Aristide found himself with two unpalatable alternatives: to remain in Haiti and face certain death at the hands of armed thugs advancing on Port au Prince, and likely the deaths of many of his supporters as well; or resign and accept exile.

Whatever the specifics of his Sunday morning departure from Haiti, I can't blame him for holding the belief that his departure was involuntary. Nor do I quite fathom how those in the so called democratic opposition who summarily rejected the US-backed CARICOM power sharing proposal that would have defused the political crisis, are still at the table with US officials and others discussing the future of Haiti -- while the individual who signed onto the CARICOM effort is not.

At the appropriate time I will ask our witnesses this afternoon what the US response has been to CARICOM's request for an independent, international investigation surrounding President Aristide's resignation.

Whatever the specific circumstances of President Aristide's departure, it is indisputable that the United States played a direct and very public role in pressuring him to leave office.
There is no question that President Aristide made mistakes during his most recent three years in office. Poverty, desperation, and opportunism bred government corruption. As head of state, President Aristide must assume responsibility for things that occurred on his watch.

But there is plenty of blame to go around for the mess in Haiti.

The United States and other members of the international community must assume a heavy responsibility for what they did not do in Haiti, namely help Haitians lift themselves from poverty, ignorance and despair by empowering their government to serve them.

This is the 21st century. Yet eighty percent of the eight million people living in Haiti still live in abject poverty - that's eight out of every ten people. The per capita income of the average Haitian was approximately $440 in 2002. To give you some measure of comparison, the gross national product of Latin America and the Caribbean was $3,280 during that same period. Not surprisingly in such circumstances, only half of Haitian children attend school; and only 45 percent of Haitians can read and write - that's less than in Iraq.

A scarcity of resources has also contributed to a public health crisis in that nation - almost 15 percent of children do not live past the age of five, and the average life expectancy is under 50 years. Haitians also suffer from the highest rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Western Hemisphere: roughly six percent of Haitians are infected.

Mr. Chairman, US foreign assistance to Haiti has fallen far short of the needs I have just mentioned. The lion's share of US assistance over the last three years has been PL 480 food assistance -- daily feeding programs for thousands of Haitian mothers and children to help them stave off starvation. Child Survival and HIV/AID programs administered through NGOs have also been part of the US aid initiative. At the moment Haiti is slated to receive only $ 52 million in FY 2004 assistance.

Over the last three years, the administration virtually zeroed out all direct US economic assistance programs to the government of Haiti. We are kidding ourselves if we think that institutional incompetence and corruption is ever going to be seriously addressed in Haiti or elsewhere, without that direct assistance.

Official international financial institutions have acted no better. The poorest nation in the hemisphere has been denied access to their resources. The InterAmerican Development Bank and the World Bank virtually turned off their aid spigots to Haiti for the last three years. Four hundred million in already approved IDB loans were withheld. With annual federal revenues of only $ 273 million and expenses of $361 million, clearly the withholding of these funds has had a huge consequence for the Haitian economy.

Finally, under pressure, the IDB relented last July and began the process of restarting its assistance programs to Haiti - albeit at a pace that has been in excusably slow.

Under less than ideal circumstances, there is now underway and effort to organize an interim government to govern until elections can be organized. It is very important that we all understand that no matter how honorable the individuals chosen to serve in this government are, they lack electoral legitimacy. For that reason it is important that this government does not overreach its mandate by attempting to make fundamental changes to the Haitian political landscape, such as the restoration of the Haitian armed forces. The principal responsibility of this temporary governing body must be to organize and conduct presidential and parliamentary elections, obviously with significant international assistance and supervision - within the next ten to twelve months.

No interim government is going to be able to succeed unless lawlessness is brought to and end and order restored. At a minimum, that is not going to happen unless armed gangs are disarmed, and quickly.

To that end I look forward to hearing how the administration intends to respond to those who took up arms against the Haitian government -- dangerous individuals like Guy Philippe, a former member of the disbanded Haitian Army, and other notorious human rights abusers, who have taken public credit for murdering policemen and burning public buildings, yet continue to move freely and very publicly throughout Port au Prince.

As I mentioned earlier, recent events in Haiti call into question the Administration's commitment to the InterAmerican Democratic Charter, specifically its obligation to come to the collective defense of struggling democracies like Haiti.

The United States fell short in recent weeks.

Others did as well.

The question for today's hearing is whether that was a temporary lapse or not. Our hearing this afternoon will give the administration the opportunity to answer this and other important questions related to our continued involvement in Haiti.

Thank you Mr. Chairman,

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