The Bureau of the FIFA Council (the Bureau) has today decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the Haitian Football Association (FHF) in accordance with art. 8 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes.
The decision follows the recent opening of various ethics investigations against the FHF President, Yves Jean-Bart, as well as other FHF officials, for their involvement in acts of systematic sexual abuse against female football players, including minors. In this respect, the Bureau took note that although some of these officials have already been provisionally banned and Mr Jean-Bart himself is now serving a life ban that was imposed by the independent Ethics Committee on 18 November 2020, multiple sources have asserted that there has been continuous interference from the suspended FHF President and his associates that seeks to prevent and/or discourage victims and witnesses from giving testimony in the ongoing investigations.
Furthermore, the Bureau noted that there are strong indications that the FHF President is still exerting his influence within the FHF by being involved in the running of its daily affairs, despite his life ban. It also noted that the failures in governance structures that have facilitated the abuse of power at the FHF are severe and deeply rooted and that a lengthy reform process of the FHF is now also needed. In view of these circumstances, the Bureau is of the opinion that it is very difficult for the FHF to carry out its operations, and that FIFA must now appoint a normalisation committee, which will also ensure that the ongoing ethics investigations may continue unimpeded.
The mandate of the normalisation committee will include the following tasks:
To run the FHF’s daily affairs;
To review the FHF Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements;
To organise and conduct elections of a new FHF Executive Committee based on the new FHF Statutes;
To ensure a proper financial handover to the new FHF Executive Committee.
The normalisation committee will consist of a suitable number of members, who will be designated jointly by FIFA and Concacaf. All members of the normalisation committee will be subject to an eligibility check carried out by the FIFA Review Committee in accordance with the FIFA Governance Regulations. The committee will serve as an electoral committee and none of its members will be eligible for the positions to be filled during the elections. Its mandate will expire on 30 November 2022.