United Nations admits involvement in deadly Cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010

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. “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”.

Haq reiterated Thursday that the U.N.’s legal position in claiming diplomatic immunity “has not changed”.

In 2011, lawyers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti filed the case, Georges v.

Thousands of Haitian victims a year ago filed a class action suit against the United Nations in the U.S. Southern District federal court.

According to a report in US NEWS by DAVID McFADDEN, “In a decision issued late Thursday, the U”.

The announcement comes after a USA appeals court on Thursday turned down an appeal by Haitian victims of the epidemic.

The court did not decide the case on the merits of its claim that a contingent of the UN’s peacekeeping mission, which arrived after the quake, had introduced cholera when Nepalese soldiers contaminated waters of a tributary to the Artibonite River, which serves as a primary water source for Haiti’s population centers.

The U.N. had denied any responsibility or involvement in causing the cholera outbreak, lawyers say.

It is suggested that the United Nations is the cause because the outbreak began where 454 Nepali peacekeepers were housed – cholera was rife in Nepal at the time.

The cholera epidemic first struck Haiti in October 2010, less than one year after the disastrous quake that worsened longstanding poverty and instability and has left the country reeling years to this day.

While the number of cholera cases has been significantly reduced from the initial outbreak in 2010, the fact that the preventable disease is still routinely sickening and killing Haitians is galling to many.

It has also badly damaged Haiti’s economy and further torpedoed the recovery from the 7.0-magnitude natural disaster that struck the southern part of the country in 2010.

Haq said the details of an arrangement are still being worked out with certain important states, and he would not say whether such support would come in the form of cash payments to thousands of cholera survivors and to the families of victims who have succumbed to the disease.

“Over the past year, the United Nations has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera”, Haq said.

Haq said worldwide and national efforts have led to a 90 percent reduction in the number of cases since the peak in 2011.

He described it as “a package that would provide material assistance and support to those Haitians most directly affected by cholera”.

It says the report was sent to Mr Ban last week by long-time United Nations adviser Philip Alston, a New York University law professor who consults the world body on human rights issues.

According to the UN, Some 72 percent of Haitians have no toilets at home and 42 percent still lack access to drinking water.

“However, eliminating cholera from Haiti will take the full commitment of the Haitian Government and the worldwide community and, crucially, the resources to fulfil our shared duty”, the statement explained.