After the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, the international community worked with the Haitian Government to establish an interim reconstruction commission, the HIRC, to manage the disbursement of international aid in Haiti. The HIRC is co-led by former President Bill Clinton, the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, and Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive. They pushed through the creation of that commission in such a way that allows them to bypass the Haitian Parliament and all other Haitian institutions that provide checks and balances to the allocation of aid and funds for a period of 18 months. Essentially, the HIRC sits above the Haitian state and has carte blanche to proceed however they want.

When the HIRC was established, most Haitians were critical of the structure because it essentially gave the foreign actors full control putting aside the Haitian Government, Haitian actors and Diaspora, and actually violated Haiti's Constitution.