Yesterday, President Bush signed into law the Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (worst acronym ever). There has been recent criticism [link1, link2]of the merits of the bill and its labor standards.  I find it very interesting that people would wait until HOPE is just about to pass to raise these concerns while the Haiti Economic Recovery Opportunity (HERO) and HOPE acts have been debated in Congress for years.

I have researched and blogged on Trade issues in Haiti no less than five times in the last year [link1, link2, link3, link4, link5] and never was any mention made of concerns with the legislation through comments, rebuttals, etc. So why now?

There is a fundamental problem, it seems, with those that read/blog on Haiti: fear. Admittedly, it took many months before I was comfortable sharing opinions with the world, and even still I worry of backlash. But then I remember it’s a blog and nothing more. So the fear of not being an economist, foreign policy expert, or development worker should be dashed. Most of those folks report from their ivory towers and know little of the realities of Haiti, and if they do, they are too jaded to comment effectively anyway.

Fresh ideas and innovation are where the future lies, not in the stuffy confines of academia or the tawdry musings of this blogger.

One common complaint of the HOPE legislation is that there is a severe lack of labor protections for workers in Haiti. (See my comments here and here). Readers have suggested that Congress need do more to protect the garment workers from unfair labor practices and unsafe working conditions. While provisions to that effect are located in the HOPE bill [link], readers want more.

I would first point out that the Congress has no enforcement arm in which to make businesses in Haiti abide by labor standards. The onus falls upon the Executive Branch, the US Trade Representative in particular [link]. By statute, the USTR is required to monitor and enforce the labor restrictions of the HOPE Law. If the USTR fails, then it is upon Congress, as the oversight body, to bear down on that office.

Second, I would only point out that there is no silver bullet to put down the ills of Haiti. Each problem in Haiti is begat by another: the cycle of poverty is perpetuated by illiteracy, illiteracy is begat by poverty. Is it bad teachers or starvation that is keeping kids from learning? Does the “restavek” cultural phenomenon hurt more kids than it helps?

These are hard questions that deserve answers, and Haiti needs everyone’s help and their ideas, big and small.