WATCH THE CHAIR’S FULL REMARKS HERE
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to confirm Dennis Hankins as U.S. Ambassador to Haiti. Following his remarks, the Senate voted to approve the nomination with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 89-1.
“We need Senate-confirmed ambassadors on the ground who can work with Haitian leaders and diplomats in the region to lay groundwork for a transitional unity government,” said Chair Cardin. “We need someone who understands the depths of the humanitarian sufferings, which, if not addressed, will lead to thousands of Haitians seeking refuge at our southern border. Most importantly, we need someone who can help coordinate once the Kenyan-led multinational, multilateral security support mission is in place, which will be critical to restoring capacity. Ambassador Hankins has more than two decades of Foreign Service experience. He has served in some of the most complex crisis-prone situations in the world, including in Haiti.”
WATCH THE CHAIR’S FULL REMARKS HERE
The Chair’s full remarks, as delivered, are available below.
Mr. President, it’s been almost a year since President Biden nominated Dennis Hankins to be the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti. In that time Haiti has gone from a tenuous political situation into a security and humanitarian catastrophe. Vicious gangs, armed largely with weapons trafficked from the United States have plunged the country into chaos.
They have burned government buildings, they have attacked police stations, and while the prime minister was out of the country to facilitate an international peacekeeping mission, gangs led a massive jail break releasing nearly 4,000 prisoners. 15,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes. Almost half the population is facing a food insecurity crisis. And this is within a very short assistance of the United States of America.
Thousands have been murdered. Hundreds kidnapped. According to the U.N. officials, gangs have used collective rapes to instill fear, punish, segregate, and inflict pain. We are on the verge of having a failed state roughly 800 miles from our shores. Secretary Blinken was in Kingston this week to help broker a political agreement with other partners in the region. An agreement for a political path forward that includes the creation of transitional presidential council following the resignation of the prime minister.
I am pleased that we are finally voting on an ambassador, Ambassador Hankins’ nomination so he can start doing his job – one that he was nominated for, but that was taking us way too long to get to this point. I’m pleased that we’re voting on his nomination. It should have been well before now. I mentioned this week my meeting with General Richardson, our SOUTHCOM commander, as to how critical it is in our hemisphere and around the world to have confirmed ambassadors to speak on behalf of America.
We want to have a strong voice on what's happening in Haiti, but how can we have that if we don't take advantage of having a confirmed ambassador? I'm glad we’re correcting that today. The nomination has been held up for reasons that have nothing to do with Haiti and nothing to do with the qualifications or experience of the nominee. U.S. leadership matters, especially in a country so close to our border.
We need Senate-confirmed ambassadors on the ground who can work with Haitian leaders and diplomats in the region to lay groundwork for a transitional unity government. We need someone who understands the depths of the humanitarian sufferings, which, if not addressed, will lead to thousands of Haitians seeking refuge at our southern border. Most importantly, we need someone who can help coordinate once the Kenyan-led multinational, multilateral security support mission is in place, which will be critical to restoring capacity.
We need that multilateral security force in place, but we need our voice to make sure they can be successful. In Haiti, in this region, and throughout the world, we need to have confirmed ambassadors. Ambassador Hankins has more than two decades of Foreign Service experience. He has served in some of the most complex crisis-prone situations in the world, including in Haiti. In 20[1]5, he was confirmed as ambassador to Guinea by unanimous vote. By unanimous vote he was previously confirmed.
He has the experience and vision to guide this process forward and advance U.S. national interests. I want to call on my colleagues to support the administration’s outstanding funding request for Haiti. Not only do we need to get the ambassador confirmed, but we need to have our contributions available so the multinational force that Kenya is leading can be deployed and we can start to restore order in Haiti so that a transitional government has a possibility of restoring the order necessary to avoid the current crisis and be able to address the humanitarian needs and stability that the people of Haiti so badly need.
But it starts with us confirming the ambassador. And we have the chance to do that with this next vote. I’m pleased that we had this opportunity today, and I urge my colleagues to support this nomination.
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