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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Notices
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unrest.28 Media outlets characterized Haiti as suffering from escalating violence, including kidnappings and homicides,29 and a public security free fall. 30 In early April 2021, Agence France-Presse reported that Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs. 31 The Miami Herald reported that Reports of kidnappings in Haiti continue to make headlines on a near daily basis, drawing alarm from international allies and humanitarian groups, 32 while the Associated Press noted that kidnapping has become so common that radio stations often broadcast pleas for help. 33 On April 11, 2021, 10
individuals were kidnapped in the town of Croix-des-Bouquetsincluding seven members of the Catholic clergy.34 In response, the Archdiocese of Port-auPrince issued a statement warning that the country is facing a descent into hell and criticizing the Haitian government for its inaction.35 In midApril 2021, rising levels of violence led schools, businesses, and banks across Haiti to close in protest.36
28 Haiti Travel Advisory, U.S. Department of State, Apr. 21, 2021, https travel.state.gov/
content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/
haiti-travel-advisory.html.
29 Sanon, Evens, and Coto, Da nica, Surge in violence rattles Haiti as poverty, fear deepens, The Associated Press, Apr. 16, 2021, https
apnews.com/article/port-au-prince-kidnappingviolence-poverty-haiti06ba2725c9639a532a69ac3c6645d916.
30 Tim Padgett, Haitian Prime Minister Resigns As Economic And Public Security Collapse Deepens, Miami NPR affiliate WLRN, April 14, 2021, https www.wlrn.org/news/2021-04-14/
haitian-prime-minister-resigns-as-economic-andpublic-security-collapse-deepens.
31 Catholic church says Haiti faces descent into hell after clergy kidnappings, Agence FrancePresse, Apr. 12, 2021, https
www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/12/catholicclergy-abucted-ransom-haiti-france.
32 Charles, Jacqueline, Haiti orphanage attacked by armed bandits, children sexually assaulted, manager says, Miami Herald, Apr. 13, 2021, https
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/
americas/haiti/article250622224.html.
33 Sanon, Evens, and Coto, Da nica, Surge in violence rattles Haiti as poverty, fear deepens, The Associated Press, Apr. 16, 2021, https
apnews.com/article/port-au-prince-kidnappingviolence-poverty-haiti06ba2725c9639a532a69ac3c6645d916.
34 Sanon, Evens, Catholic officials halt activity in Haiti for 9 kidnapped, The Associated Press, Apr. 21, 2021, https apnews.com/article/latinamerica-haiti-kidnapping-port-au-prince-europe9cd7e6f7077009e30830f277ece721db.
35 Catholic church says Haiti faces descent into hell after clergy kidnappings, Agence FrancePresse, Apr. 12, 2021. https
www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/12/catholicclergy-abucted-ransom-haiti-france.
36 Sanon, Evens, and Coto, Da nica, Surge in violence rattles Haiti as poverty, fear deepens, The Associated Press, Apr. 16, 2021, https
apnews.com/article/port-au-prince-kidnapping-

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In an April 2021 report by Harvard Law Schools International Human Rights Clinic and a consortium of Haitian civil society organizations, the authors describe complicity of state officials and police in gang attacks that left hundreds of people dead. 37 The reports authors asserted that the government has helped to unleash criminal violence on poor neighborhoods, including by providing gangs with money, weapons, police uniforms, and government vehicles and that such support has encouraged the gangs to grow to the point where they can no longer be reined in, allowing criminality to explode. According to the report, the United Nations warned that a lack of accountability contributed to an increase in gang attacks throughout 2020, including attacks on Cite Soleil, where police resources were reportedly used on multiple occasions.
In early April 2021, the Miami Herald reported on increasing violence on public transportation in Haiti, noting, Already driven to despair in Haiti by brutal poverty and a paralyzing political crisis, bus drivers and commuters are now having to grapple with surging violence on the countrys public transportation. Robberies and kidnappings have become a daily reality as buses get intercepted by armed gangs controlling access to large swaths of the country. 38
On June 10, 2021, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA reported an upsurge in deadly clashes between gangs in Port-au-Prince displaced more than 5,000 people since the beginning of June.39 According to OCHA, the displacement brings the overall number to some 10,000 residents who have been displaced in the past 12 months due to similar incidents.40 Starting June 24, 2021, multiple news organizations reported one of Haitis most powerful gang leaders warned that he was launching a revolution against the countrys business and political elites, signaling a likely further escalation of violence-poverty-haiti06ba2725c9639a532a69ac3c6645d916.
37 Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic and Observatoire Hatien des crimes contre lhumanite, Killing With Impunity, StateSanctioned Massacres in Haiti, http
hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/
Killing_With_Impunity-1.pdf, April 2021.
38 Charles, Jacqueline, When we arent killed, they kidnap us. Riding a bus in Haiti now a dangerous quest, Miami Herald, Apr. 8, 2021, https www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/
world/americas/haiti/article248908489.html.
39 Daily Noon Briefing Highlights, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 10 June 2021, https www.unocha.org/story/dailynoon-briefing-highlights-ethiopia-haiti.
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violence in Haiti.41 On July 7, 2021 a group of assailants attacked President Moises residence and killed him. No one has claimed responsibility for the assassination.
Economic Situation According to the World Bank, Haitis economic and social development continue to be hindered by political instability, governance issues, and fragility. With a Gross Domestic Product GDP per capita of US$1,149.50 and a Human Development Index ranking of 170 out of 189 countries in 2020, Haiti remains the poorest country in the Latin America and Caribbean region and among the poorest countries in the world.42 The World Bank further reports that even before the COVID19
pandemic, the economy was contracting and facing significant fiscal imbalances.
Following a contraction of 1.7% percent in 2019 in the context of the political turmoil and social discontent, GDP
contracted by an estimated 3.8% in 2020, as the COVID19 pandemic exacerbated the already weak economy and political instability.43 It further reports that past marginal gains in poverty reduction have been undone by these recent shocks, with current estimates pointing to a poverty rate of nearly 60% in 2020 compared to the last official national estimate of 58.5% in 2012. About two thirds of the poor live in rural areas. The welfare gap between urban and rural areas is largely due to adverse conditions for agricultural production.44 The Congressional Research Service CRS reported in March 2020 that Public frustration with economic woes has contributed greatly to ongoing demonstrations, some of which have become violent. 45
Protests have been spurred in part by the elimination of fuel subsidies in 2018
and subsequent increases in fuel prices.46 In late 2019, protests in response to rising fuel costs precipitated 41 See e.g., Haiti Gang Leader Launches Revolution as Violence Escalates, U.S. News and World Report, June 24, 2021, https
www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-06-24/
haiti-gang-leader-launches-revolution-as-violenceescalates, and Haiti gang leader threatens revolution, The New York Carib News, June 26, 2021, https www.nycaribnews.com/articles/haitigang-leader-threatens-revolution/.
42 The World Bank in Haiti, World Bank, April 26, 2021.
43 Id.
44 Id.
45 Taft-Morales, Maureen, Haitis Political and Economic Conditions, Congressional Research Service CRS, p.5, Mar. 5, 2020, https fas.org/sgp/
crs/row/R45034.pdf.
46 World Report 2021Haiti, Human Rights Watch, Jan. 13, 2021, https www.hrw.org/worldreport/2021/country-chapters/haiti.

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