Haiti

agricultural land:

66.4%;

• arable land 38.5%;
• permanent crops 10.2%;
• permanent pasture 17.7%

forest:

3.6%

other:

30% (2011 est.)

total:

1.2 cu km/yr (17%/3%/80%)

per capita:

134.3 cu m/yr (2009)

• lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October;
• occasional flooding and earthquakes;
• periodic droughts

• extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel);
• soil erosion;
• inadequate supplies of potable water

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection

signed, but not ratified:

Hazardous Wastes

noun:

Haitian(s)

adjective:

Haitian

at birth:

1.01 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.92 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.81 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2015 est.)

degree of risk:

high

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases:

dengue fever and malaria (2013)

total number:

2,587,205

percentage:

21% (2006 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of Haiti

conventional short form:

Haiti

local long form:

Republique d'Haiti/Repiblik d Ayiti

local short form:

Haiti/Ayiti

name:

Port-au-Prince

geographic coordinates:

18 32 N, 72 20 W

time difference:

UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins second Sunday in March; ends first Sunday in November

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a native-born citizen of Haiti

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

chief of state:

President Michel MARTELLY (since 14 May 2011)

head of government:

Prime Minister Evans PAUL (since 16 January 2015)

cabinet:

Cabinet chosen by the prime minister in consultation with the president

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a single non-consecutive term);
• election last held on 25 November 2015 with a runoff on 27 December 2015 (next tentatively scheduled for late 2020);
• prime minister chosen by the president from among members of the majority party in the National Assembly

election results:

• 2010 election - Michel MARTELLY elected president in runoff;
• percent of vote - Michel MARTELLY (Peasant's Response) 68%, Mirlande MANIGAT (RDNP) 32%;
• 2015 election - results are pending

description:

bicameral legislature or "le Corps Legislatif ou parlement" consists of le Senat or Senate (30 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote in two rounds if needed; members serve 6-year terms with one-third of the membership renewed every 2 years) and la Chambre de deputes or Chamber of Deputies (118 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote in two rounds if needed; members serve 4-year terms); note - when the two chambers meet collectively it is known as L'Assemblee Nationale or the National Assembly that is convened for specific purposes spelled out in the constitution

elections:

• Senate - last held on 9 August 2015 with run-off election on 25 October 2015 (next possible election in 2017);
• Chamber of Deputies - last held on 9 August 2015 with run-off election on 25 October 2015 (next regular election may be held in 2017)

election results:

• 2015 Senate - percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - NA;
• 2015 Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - NA;
• note - official results pending

highest court(s):

Supreme Court or Cour de Cassation (consists of a chief judge and other judges); note - Haiti is a member of the Caribbean Court of Justice

judge selection and term of office:

• judges appointed by the president from candidate lists submitted by the Senate of the National Assembly;
• note - Article 174 of the Haiti Constitution states "Judges of the Supreme Court.... are appointed for 10 years." whereas Article 177 states "Judges of the Supreme Court..... are appointed for life."

subordinate courts:

• Courts of Appeal;
• Courts of First Instance;
• magistrates' courts;
• special courts

• Assembly of Progressive National Democrats or RDNP [Mirlande MANIGAT]
• Christian and Citizen For Haiti's Reconstruction or ACCRHA [Chavannes JEUNE]
• Christian Movement for a New Haiti or MCNH [Luc MESADIEU]
• Convention for Democratic Unity or KID [Evans PAUL]
• Cooperative Action to Rebuild Haiti or KONBA [Jean William JEANTY]
• December 16 Platform or Platfom 16 Desanm [Dr. Gerard BLOT]
• Democratic Alliance or ALYANS [Evans PAUL] (coalition composed of KID and PPRH)
• Democratic Centers's National Council or CONACED [Osner FEVRY]
• Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Haiti-Revolutionary Party of Haiti or MODELH-PRDH
• Effort and Solidarity to Create an Alternative for the People or ESKAMP [Joseph JASME]
• Fanmi Lavalas or FL [Jean-Bertrand ARISTIDE]
• For Us All or PONT [Jean-Marie CHERESTAL]
• Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats or FHSD [Edmonde Supplice BEAUZILE]
• Grouping of Citizens for Hope or RESPE [Charles-Henri BAKER]
• Haiti in Action or AAA [Youri LATORTUE]
• Haitian Tet Kale Party or PHTK [Ann Valerie Timothee MILFORT]
• Haitians for Haiti [Yvon NEPTUNE]
• Independent Movement for National Reconstruction or MIRN [Luc FLEURINORD]
• Konbit Pou refe Ayiti or KONBIT
• Lavni Organization or LAVNI [Yves CRISTALIN]
• Liberal Party of Haiti or PLH [Jean Andre VICTOR]
• Liberation Platform or PLATFORME LIBERATION
• Love Haiti or Renmen Ayiti [Jean-Henry CEANT and Camille LEBLANC]
• Merging of Haitian Social Democratics or FUSION [Edmonde Supplice BEAUZILE] (coalition of Ayiti Capable, Haitian National Revolutionary Party, and National Congress of Democratic Movements)
• Mobilization for National Development or MDN [Hubert de RONCERAY]
• National Front for the Reconstruction of Haiti or FRN [Guy PHILIPPE]
• New Christian Movement for a New Haiti or MOCHRENA [Luc MESADIEU]
• Patriotic Movement of the Democratic Opposition or MOPOD
• Patriotic Unity or IP [Marie Denise CLAUDE]
• Peasant Platform or PP
• Peasant's Response or Repons Peyizan [Michel MARTELLY]
• Platform Alternative for Progress and Democracy or ALTENATIV [Victor BENOIT and Evans PAUL]
• Platform of Haitian Patriots or PLAPH [Dejean BELISAIRE and Himmler REBU]
• Platform Pitit Dessalines or PPD [Moise JEAN-CHARLES]
• Pont
• Popular Party for the Renewal of Haiti or PPRH [Claude ROMAIN]
• PPG18
• Rally or RASAMBLE
• Renmen Ayiti or RA [Jean-Henry CEANT]
• Respect or RESPE
• Socialist Action Movement or MAS
• Strength in Unity or Ansanm Nou Fo [Leslie VOLTAIRE]
• Struggling People's Organization or OPL [Sauveur PIERRE-ETIENNE]
• Truth (Verite)
• Union [Chavannes JEUNE]
• Union of Haitian Citizens for Democracy, Development, and Education or UCADDE [Jeantel JOSEPH]
• Union of Nationalist and Progressive Haitians or UNPH [Edouard FRANCISQUE]
• Unity or Inite [Levaillant LOUIS-JEUNE] (coalition that includes Front for Hope or L'ESPWA)
• Vigilance or Veye Yo [Lavarice GAUDIN]
• Youth for People's Power or JPP [Rene CIVIL]

• Autonomous Organizations of Haitian Workers or CATH [Fignole ST-CYR]
• Confederation of Haitian Workers or CTH
• Economic Forum of the Private Sector or EF [Reginald BOULOS]
• Federation of Workers Trade Unions or FOS
• General Organization of Independent Haitian Workers [Patrick NUMAS]
• Grand-Anse Resistance Committee or KOREGA
• Haitian Association of Industries or ADIH [Georges SASSINE]
• National Popular Assembly or APN
• Papaye Peasants Movement or MPP [Chavannes JEAN-BAPTISTE]
• Popular Organizations Gathering Power or PROP
• Protestant Federation of Haiti
• Roman Catholic Church

chief of mission:

Ambassador Paul Getty ALTIDOR (since 17 April 2012)

chancery:

2311 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 332-4090

FAX:

[1] (202) 745-7215

consulate(s) general:

Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Orlando (FL), New York, San Juan (Puerto Rico)

chief of mission:

Ambassador Pamela A. WHITE (since 18 July 2012)

embassy:

Tabarre 41, Route de Tabarre, Port-au-Prince

mailing address:

(in Haiti) P.O. Box 1634, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; (from abroad) 3400 Port-au-Prince, State Department, Washington, DC 20521-3400

telephone:

[509] 2229-8000

FAX:

[509] 229-8028

• two equal horizontal bands of blue (top) and red with a centered white rectangle bearing the coat of arms, which contains a palm tree flanked by flags and two cannons above a scroll bearing the motto L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE (Union Makes Strength);
• the colors are taken from the French Tricolor and represent the union of blacks and mulattoes

name:

"La Dessalinienne" (The Dessalines Song)

lyrics/music:

Justin LHERISSON/Nicolas GEFFRARD

note: adopted 1904; named for Jean-Jacques DESSALINES, a leader in the Haitian Revolution and first ruler of an independent Haiti

agriculture:

38.1%

industry:

11.5%

services:

50.4% (2010)

lowest 10%:

0.7%

highest 10%:

47.7% (2001)

general assessment:

• telecommunications infrastructure is among the least-developed in Latin America and the Caribbean;
• domestic facilities barely adequate;
• international facilities slightly better

domestic:

• mobile-cellular telephone services are expanding rapidly due, in part, to the introduction of low-cost GSM phones;
• mobile-cellular teledensity exceeds 40 per 100 persons

international:

country code - 509; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2010)

• several TV stations, including 1 government owned;
• cable TV subscription service available;
• government-owned radio network;
• more than 250 private and community radio stations with about 50 FM stations in Port-au-Prince alone (2007)

total:

4,266 km

paved:

768 km

unpaved:

3,498 km (2009)

country comparison to the world: 156

• no regular military forces - small Coast Guard;
• a Ministry of National Defense established May 2012;
• the regular Haitian Armed Forces (FAdH) - Army, Navy, and Air Force - have been demobilized but still exist on paper until or unless they are constitutionally abolished (2011)

males age 16-49:

2,398,804

females age 16-49:

2,415,039 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

1,666,324

females age 16-49:

1,704,364 (2010 est.)

male:

115,246

female:

115,282 (2010 est.)

• since 2004, peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti have assisted in maintaining civil order in Haiti;
• the mission currently includes 6,685 military, 2,607 police, and 443 civilian personnel;
• despite efforts to control illegal migration, Haitians cross into the Dominican Republic and sail to neighboring countries;
• Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island

current situation:

• Haiti is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• many of Haiti’s trafficking cases involve children recruited to live with families in other towns in the hope of going to school but who instead become forced domestic servants known as restaveks;
• restaveks are vulnerable to abuse and make up a large proportion of Haiti’s population of street children, who are forced into prostitution, begging, and street crime by violent gangs;
• Haitians are exploited in forced labor in the Dominican Republic, elsewhere in the Caribbean, South America, and the US, and some Dominican women are forced into prostitution in Haiti;
• women and children living in camps for internally displaced people since the 2010 earthquake are at increased risk of sex trafficking and forced labor

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Haiti does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• the government passed a law in 2014 criminalizing human trafficking but did not prosecute or convict any trafficking offenders, despite large numbers of identified victims;
• a national plan to combat human trafficking was also passed in 2014;
• authorities did not provide direct or specialized services for trafficking victims and referred suspected victims to donor-funded NGOs;
• the government managed a hotline for trafficking victims and conducted a campaign to raise awareness about child labor and child trafficking (2014)

• Caribbean transshipment point for cocaine en route to the US and Europe;
• substantial bulk cash smuggling activity;
• Colombian narcotics traffickers favor Haiti for illicit financial transactions;
• pervasive corruption;
• significant consumer of cannabis