Rights Advocates Suing U.N. Over the Spread of Cholera in Haiti

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: NYTimes

Advocates for Haitian victims of the deadly cholera epidemic that first afflicted their country three years ago said they were taking the extraordinary step on Wednesday of suing the United Nations, asserting that the organization’s peacekeeping force in Haiti was responsible for introducing the disease through sewage contamination from its barracks.

The lawsuit, which the advocates said they would file in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, will be the strongest action they have taken in pressing the United Nations to acknowledge at least some culpability for the outbreak of cholera, a highly contagious scourge spread through human feces that had been largely absent from Haiti for 100 years.

Cholera has killed more than 8,300 Haitians and sickened more than 650,000 in the earthquake-ravaged country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, since it first reappeared in October 2010. While the worst of the epidemic has eased, it still kills about 1,000 Haitians a year.

United Nations officials have said they are committed to eradicating the cholera, but they have not conceded that the organization was inadvertently responsible for causing it. They also have asserted diplomatic immunity from any negligence claims, a position that has deeply angered many Haitians who consider it a betrayal of United Nations principles.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/world/americas/rights-advocates-suing-un-over-the-spread-of-cholera-in-haiti.html?hp&_r=0

[starroute]

1. Al Jazeera had an excellent investigative special on the epidemic

It was back in August, and I don't know whether it will be reshown or is available on their website, but it's worth trying to track down. It began in Haiti with the victims of the cholera and then switched to New York -- where the journalists chased skittish UN officials down the hallways until they eventually got themselves thrown out. A really good example of Michael Moore-style afflicting the comfortable.

[Igel]

2. Culpability isn't the issue.

Asking to pay up, now and for the indefinite future, that's the issue.

There'd be restitution, compensation, damages because of negligence ... Make it sound like all that's necessary is admission of wrong and an apology, and then turn around--or have allied groups come forward--and leverage those nice, warm, fuzzy feelings into lots and lots of money for lawyers and the groups that just wanted the truth.

After all, with the truth and $1 billion in monetary awards you get at least $100 million for the people.

And the next time there's a calamity or catastropphe, a bunch of people in biohazard suits will first invade the country with legal waivers, requiring every elected and appointed official from dog catcher to supreme leader to first sign before any other action can be taken. (Of course, the result will be a lawsuit, since the presence of the biohazard suits will be taken as demeaning and condescending.)