UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Thursday at a press briefing, “Over the course of the past year, the UN has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those infected by cholera”.
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Researchers say there is ample scientific evidence the disease was introduced to Haiti’s biggest river by inadequately treated sewage from a base of United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal, one of the units that have rotated in and out of a multinational force in Haiti since 2004.
A US federal appeals court has upheld the United Nations’ immunity from a damage claim filed by human rights lawyers on behalf of thousands of Haitians killed or sickened by a cholera epidemic they blame on U.N. peacekeepers.
The human rights and global law expert added that the U.N.’s years-long refusal to admit its role in causing the cholera outbreak “upholds a double standard according to which the United Nations insists that member states respect human rights, while rejecting any such responsibility for itself”.
“This is a major victory for the thousands of Haitians who have been marching for justice, writing to the United Nations and bringing the U.N.to court”, said Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights attorney whose law firm is leading a high-profile claim on behalf of 5,000 cholera victims who blame the United Nations for introducing the disease.
“Despite repeated appeals, these efforts have been seriously underfunded, and severe and persistent funding shortfalls remain”.
His statement on United Nations involvement was first reported by the New York Times.
The appeals panel upheld the UN’s immunity from a damage claim filed on behalf of 5,000 victims. They have 90 days to decide whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The cholera crisis that occurred after the 2010 Haiti natural disaster “would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations”, according to a report by an adviser from the UN itself.
Some 72 percent of Haitians have no toilets at home and 42 percent still lack access to drinking water, the United Nations says.
Haq reiterated that the UN’s legal position in claiming immunity hasn’t changed.
“With a rainy season that will last through November or possibly December, we worry that cholera will be especially deadly this year, easily killing 400 or 500 people”, he said. Sewage is rarely treated and safe water remains inaccessible to many.
“So now they are going to find a way to clean the disease from the country? I hope so because it has harmed many people”, said Vale, as he washed his socks in a roadside pool of stagnant water.
Scientific studies have shown that Nepalese UN troops were the source of the disease – but the UN repeatedly denied responsibility until now. Cholera is endemic in Nepal.
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The newspaper said the shift was prompted by an internal report, seen by the New York Times and penned by Philip Alson, a professor now serving as the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, that concluded the epidemic “would not have broken out but for the actions of the UN”. Alston’s report will be released in late September. Statements by the U.N.as recently as a couple of weeks ago make no gesture toward accepting responsibility.
