courtesy: bbc news
In what seems to be a never ending streak of misfortune, Haiti received news on Wednesday that its cholera victims would not be compensated under UN statute.
The Haitian population in the capital had suffered and is still in the grips of a large scale cholera epidemic. Since most of the people are still living in tent cities following the catastrophic earthquake of 2010, which registered a magnitude of 7.0 and destroyed much of the capital, the cholera epidemic has swept quickly and widely through the population.
The source of the cholera epidemic was traced to a camp of UN supporting troops, whose open sewers seeped into the drinking water resources and the neighboring camps.
The cholera epidemic has killed 8,000 haitians so far and sickened hundred of thousands. The epidemic was caused accidentally by a contingent of Nepali peacekeepers who where sent to Haiti for relief operations.
But the UN secretary general has refused compensation of any kind for the victims citing a UN convention which renders it immune, in any theatre of operation, from being legally responsible for the epidemic.
Such immunity was granted the UN as one of its first founding principles, and is known as section 29 of the Convention on Privileges and Immunities charter of the UN.
Many people are seeing this declaration as insensitive in the face of the immense distress and poverty already suffered by the Haitian population.
The suit for compensation had been brought by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti two years ago. Among other things, it requested that the UN build a proper sanitation system to control the epidemic, pay compensation to the victims, and make an apology.
The UN has acknowledged, after DNA testing proved that the epidemic stemmed from carriers in the UN encampment at Mirabalais, that the sanitation was inadequate at the barracks, but is has refused to accept further responsibility. The UN, furthermore, still insists that the cause of the epidemic remains unclear, and that its quick spread and impact was caused by many concomitant factors.
However, the UN has promised to continue with the mission, and has spent close to 118 million dollars on medical equipment, sewage improvements and with other programmes.
The decision has not been well accepted by the victims of the cholera epidemic. People who survived the disease are angry that, while the UN considers itself a force for the greater good, it can ignore the pleas of people who are in abject and woeful conditions, such as those reported in Port au Prince. Many find that the epidemic has worsened their condition greatly and still poses a threat, while they also cite it as an impediment for the resolution of the crisis that followed the earthquake.
partial sourcing. : Al Jazeera 2.23.13/Guardian UK 2.21.13
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