It is also demanding that the United Nations issue a public apology and ensure that cholera is eradicated in Haiti by investing in water and sanitation infrastructure.
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But Ban – whose response came as his own special rapporteur reportedly said the deadly outbreak would not have occurred but for the UN’s presence and as the United Nations acknowledged some role – also said the United Nations was creating a relief package for victims.
The cholera crisis that occurred after the 2010 Haiti quake “would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations”, according to a report by an adviser from the UN itself.
The United Nations has “a moral responsibility to the victims of the cholera epidemic” and for supporting Haiti in overcoming the epidemic and building sound water, sanitation and health systems, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Friday. “S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in NY affirmed a lower court’s January 2015 dismissal of a lawsuit brought in the worst outbreak of cholera in recent history”.
After five years of denial, the United Nations has admitted its part in bringing cholera to Haiti during disaster relief measures following the 2010 quake that devastated the country.
Several investigations including by the United Nations itself have linked the outbreak to sewage from a base for Nepalese peacekeepers, who were part of an ongoing mission. The troops had recently arrived in Haiti. Waste from the base leaked into the river, encouraging the spread of the disease. In the 19-page document, Alston said the UN’s Haiti cholera policy “is morally unconscionable, legally indefensible and politically self-defeating”. It can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting, which leads to extreme dehydration. The patient loses so much fluid so quickly that the disease can prove fatal in a matter of days. Once cholera got a foothold in Haiti, it ran rampant in the country’s open sewers and untreated water supplies. And scientists agreed the base was the only realistic source of the outbreak.
Haq declined to say what steps the U.N.is considering, but suggested that reparations were not among them.
In a decision issued late Thursday, the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in NY upheld the United Nations’ immunity from a high-profile claim filed on behalf of 5,000 cholera victims who blame the U.N. for the epidemic in a country where any number of diseases thrive. “And that’s what we’ve been doing in these last months, as well”, he said.
He said a new plan for handling this question should be disclosed in the next 2 months.
The quake crippled the capital of Port-au-Prince, killing 200,000 people, then the cholera outbreak sickened hundreds of thousands of others, and killing 10,000. “It’s about time that they accept responsibility”.
Brian Concannon, executive director of the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, said advocates for Haitian cholera victims will be watching the U.N.’s actions closely. “The secretary-general urges member states to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Haiti by increasing their contributions to eliminate cholera and provide assistance to those affected”, the statement said. “It is high time for the United Nations to make this right and prove to the world that “human rights for all” means for Haitians too”, he said.
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The U.N. countered Concannon’s class action lawsuit by saying it is immune under worldwide law from such legal actions.
