The UN is saying for the first time that it was involved in the introduction of cholera to Haiti and needs to do “much more” to end the suffering of those affected, estimated at more than 800,000 people.
Researchers say there is ample evidence that cholera was introduced to Haiti’s biggest river in October 2010 by inadequately treated sewage from a UN peacekeeping base.
The world body has never accepted responsibility and has answered lawsuits on behalf of victims in US courts by claiming diplomatic immunity.
Photo: AP
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq’s statement referring to the UN’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.
“This is a major victory for the thousands of Haitians who have been marching for justice, writing to the UN and bringing the UN to court,” said Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights attorney whose law firm has led a high-profile claim on behalf of 5,000 cholera victims who blame the global body for introducing the disease.
In a decision issued late on Thursday, a US federal appeals panel in New York upheld immunity for the UN and affirmed a lower court’s judgement dismissing that case last year. Cholera victims and their lawyers have 90 days to decide if they will seek an appeal with the US Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Haq said the UN has been considering a series of options, and “a significantly new set of UN actions” would be presented publicly within the next two months.
He told reporters later that a UN-appointed panel already looked into the UN’s involvement.
It found that a local contractor failed to properly sanitize the waste at the UN base.
“We’ve been trying to see exactly what we can do about our own particular role as this has been going on” and how “to bring this outbreak to a close,” he said.
His statement on UN involvement was first reported by the New York Times.
Five UN human rights experts criticized the international body in a letter to top UN officials late last year for its “effective denial of the fundamental right of the victims of cholera to justice.”
At least one lawsuit was dismissed because of the UN’s diplomatic immunity claim.
Haq reiterated that the UN’s legal position in claiming diplomatic immunity “has not changed.”
According to government figures, cholera has sickened more than 800,000 people, or about 7 percent of Haiti’s population, and has killed more than 9,200. As of March, it was killing an average of 37 people a month.
At a dusty crossroads on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital, local residents on Thursday gathered at a trash-clogged stream to wash clothes and bathe.
“So now they are going to find a way to clean the disease from the country? It’s been here for years and it seems like it is here to stay,” worker Jhony Nordlius said.
Maxcilus Vale, who ekes out a living shining shoes by the trash-clogged waterway, was more hopeful about the UN’s statement.
“Maybe now we’ll get more sanitation and water treatment to help make cholera go away. I hope so, because it has harmed many people,” Vale said.
Researchers said cholera was first detected in the central Artibonite Valley and cited evidence that it was introduced to Haiti’s biggest river from a UN base where Nepalese troops were deployed as part of a peacekeeping operation that has been in the country since 2004.
Cholera is endemic in Nepal.
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