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UN Claims Immunity From Planet's Inhabitants
[font size=2]Lawyers: Haiti cholera lawsuit threatened at UN[/font]
THE TRIBUNE - San Luis Obispo
Published: May 8, 2013 Updated 21 hours ago
By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN — Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — A Boston-based human rights group said Wednesday it will sue the United Nations in 60 days if the world body does not agree to compensate Haitian cholera victims, apologize to the Caribbean nation for introducing the disease through its peacekeeping force, and launch a major effort to improve sanitation. Lawyers for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti said they hoped to be able to settle with the United Nations but are ready to go to court in New York if that fails.
The announcement was the group's response to a U.N. letter in February saying it is legally immune and was not responsible for the cholera outbreak that has sickened nearly 500,000 people and killed over 7,750 people since the outbreak began in October 2010.
The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti cites independent studies suggesting that the disease was inadvertently brought to Haiti by a U.N. battalion from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. A local contractor failed to properly sanitize the waste of a U.N. base, and the bacteria leaked into a tributary of one of Haiti's biggest rivers, according to one study by a U.N.-appointed panel.
Haiti's cholera epidemic followed a Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake that killed 316,000 people and displaced more than a million others. Brian Concannon, the institute's director, said the U.N. asserted its immunity in its recent letter. "They may have immunity, but they don't have impunity," said Ira Kurzban, another lawyer preparing the lawsuit.
MORE
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THE TRIBUNE - San Luis Obispo
Published: May 8, 2013 Updated 21 hours ago
By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN — Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — A Boston-based human rights group said Wednesday it will sue the United Nations in 60 days if the world body does not agree to compensate Haitian cholera victims, apologize to the Caribbean nation for introducing the disease through its peacekeeping force, and launch a major effort to improve sanitation. Lawyers for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti said they hoped to be able to settle with the United Nations but are ready to go to court in New York if that fails.
The announcement was the group's response to a U.N. letter in February saying it is legally immune and was not responsible for the cholera outbreak that has sickened nearly 500,000 people and killed over 7,750 people since the outbreak began in October 2010.
The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti cites independent studies suggesting that the disease was inadvertently brought to Haiti by a U.N. battalion from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. A local contractor failed to properly sanitize the waste of a U.N. base, and the bacteria leaked into a tributary of one of Haiti's biggest rivers, according to one study by a U.N.-appointed panel.
Haiti's cholera epidemic followed a Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake that killed 316,000 people and displaced more than a million others. Brian Concannon, the institute's director, said the U.N. asserted its immunity in its recent letter. "They may have immunity, but they don't have impunity," said Ira Kurzban, another lawyer preparing the lawsuit.
MORE
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- The UN's claim of immunity is like the fire department sending out a truck to rescue your kitty from a tree, but they burn down your house in the process. Kitty's doing fine though......
