A class action suit was brought on behalf of victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti contending UN peacekeeping forces from Nepal brought the disease to the island nation following a massive quake in January 2010, which killed more than 220,000 people and displaced 1.5 million.
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In a decision late on Thursday, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals in NY upheld a lower court’s January 2015 dismissal of a lawsuit brought by lawyers seeking compensation and a public apology for 5,000 Haitian cholera victims.
Since its introduction to Haiti in October 2010, cholera has killed more than 9,300 Haitians and sickened over 800,000.
Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, admitted for the first time thatUN peacekeepers were involved in the initial spread of the disease in the country.
The admission was in response to a private report, drafted by New York University law professor and U.N. special rapporteur on human rights Philip Alston, which found that “but for the actions of the United Nations”, the crisis would not have occurred.
Ban is “actively working to develop a package that would provide material assistance and support for those Haitians most directly affected by cholera”, a spokesman said, reading a statement from the UN’s top diplomat, who has four months left in his term.
“The Secretary General deeply regrets the awful suffering the people of Haiti have endured as a result of the cholera epidemic”, Haq told reporters at United Nations headquarters.
In a decision issued late Thursday, the US 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.
United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq’s statement referring to the U.N.’s “own involvement”, which was sent to The Associated Press on Thursday, came a step closer to an admission of at least some responsibility and was welcomed by lawyers for the victims. But he made it clear that United Nations member states would have to share the burden of funding an worldwide response. Haq said that previous efforts to fund efforts to improve Haiti’s sanitation and health care have been “seriously underfunded, and severe and persistent funding shortfalls remain”. PIH has treated numerous hundreds of thousands of cholera patients at its clinics across the country.
Nepalese peacekeepers were stationed at a camp in Mierbalais, along the banks of the Meye, fueling suspicion that the waste of an infected peacekeeper had flowed into the river. It stressed, however, that the outbreak “was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual”.
Despite numerous scientific studies backing that conclusion, the United Nations had until now refused to acknowledge any responsibility in introducing the disease in Haiti, saying it was impossible to authoritatively determine the source of the epidemic. The suit was dismissed but is pending an appeal.
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A USA 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 UN peacekeepers. Cholera victims and their lawyers have 90 days to decide if they will seek an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
