Questions are surfacing about the Red Cross organization after a new report found that 25 percent of donations to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake were spent on internal expenses.
The report, released by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, concluded that there were “substantial concerns about the organization,” as it was also discovered that the charity’s main authorities delayed investigations, and withheld information from the Haitian public about the ongoing actions of the charity. According to NPR, the Red Cross itself doesn’t know how much money the organization spent on each project in Haiti, due to an inaccurate accounting system:
“The report lists eight examples of things the Red Cross declined to provide to government investigators working for the GAO as part of an inquiry that began in 2014. The Red Cross has about 20,000 employees, but its ethics office — which investigates waste, fraud and abuse — is composed of three people, according to the Grassley report. That is down from roughly 65 staffers after Hurricane Katrina a decade ago, the report says.The Office of Investigations, Compliance and Ethics was left so “understaffed and underfunded” that it is “unable to perform its primary function; namely, to perform investigations, ensure compliance, and maintain ethical standards,” the report found.”
Last year, the Red Cross also came under fire, after it was reported that only six houses were built with $500 million dollars in relief money.
Haiti emerged as the first black nation in the world in 1804 after defeating the French. The island was reviled and feared by all rich nations after its revolution, who feared future slave rebellions in other colonies. In 1852, France was the first nation to recognize the country, but for a price: Haiti agreed to pay 150,000,000 gold francs as “compensation” for the economic losses that France endured after the island’s liberation. The United States also permitted trade with Haiti, but did not recognize it as a country until 1862.
The island has experienced military occupation from the United States, decades of repressive dictatorships (Francois Duvalier and Jean Claude Duvalier) and a 2004 coup that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, who were said to have raised millions in aid after the Haitian earthquake of 2010, but were heavily criticized by Haitian residents as relief efforts have yet to be spent on job opportunities for residents of the country, with 366 farmers being evicted from their lands.