As
UN
Cites Immunity
for Haiti
Cholera, Ban
as the Face of
Impunity
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 9 --
Haiti
shouldn't even
be hosting a
UN
Peacekeeping
mission, human
rights lawyer
Mario Joseph
told the Press
on Monday.
The $800
million it is
spending a
year should
instead be
spent on
reparations
for having
brought
cholera, and
on a new water
system.
Inner
City Press
asked Joseph
what he
thought of the
response, or
non-response,
of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, who
has pointed
again and
again to the
inconclusive
findings of a
panel whose
members have
since said the
UN's role in
bringing
cholera to
Haiti has been
proved. Joseph
replied that
immunity
cannot -- or
at least,
should not --
mean
impunity.
His
fellow
panelist and
translator,
Brian
Concannon of
the Institute
for Justice
&
Democracy in
Haiti, added
that there
should be a
General
Assembly
resolution by
member states,
telling the UN
-- that is,
the
Secretariat
and Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations --
to be
accountable
for cholera.
Abby
Goldberg of
the New Media
Advocacy
Project told
Inner City
Press that the
film
she had just
screened was
intended to
help civil
society to
demand
accountability
from the UN.
Inner
City Press
would suggest
that future
edits of the
film put a
face on the UN
and
personalize
it. For months
the claim for
compensation
has been
"studied,"
without
comment, by
chief UN legal
officer
Patricia
O'Brien. Ban
Ki-moon has
dodged
questions
about
accountability,
even while
reading out
speeches
demanding it
from
others. The
footage is
there: now
it's time to
focus. Watch
this
site.
Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
on April 2,
2012, about
the
Inner
City
Press: article
about Haiti
and cholera,
and they go
into great
detail and
they say that,
even the
members of the
panel that the
UN
cites so much,
say that new
evidence tends
to show that
it was
introduced by
the UN. There
is a quote by
Mr. Banbury to
the
contrary, but
virtually
everything
else in the
article points
to the
UN and says it
is… the UN’s
refusal to
take
responsibility
has
led to further
problems in
Haiti. And so,
I wonder, I
have seen Mr.
Banbury’s
quote, but is
there any
reflection on
the UN on the
mounting
evidence that
they are
responsible
for the
introduction
of
cholera into
Haiti?
Spokesperson:
Well, I think,
as we have
said on
numerous
occasions,
there are a
couple of
points. One is
that the UN
has indeed
received
claims
related to
cholera in
Haiti, and it
is studying
those claims.
And
this is
obviously a
highly complex
matter which
will require
thorough
consideration.
And given the
unique nature
of the claim,
needless to
say, this will
take some
time. And I
think, as you
can
appreciate,
when it comes
to claims,
that is not
unusual. The
UN has advised
the
claimant that
it is looking
into the
matter. So,
that’s the
first
thing. The
second thing
is that, as
you mentioned,
there was the
report of the
independent
Panel of
Experts and,
as you will
recall,
that Panel
concluded that
it was not
possible to be
conclusive
about
how cholera
was introduced
into Haiti.
And as I say,
the claims are
being studied
and,
therefore, at
this point, I
don’t have any
further
comment,
including on
the New York
Times story.
Inner
City
Press: just to
make it a
little more
pointed, it
seems like
some
of the
panellists
have now been
quoted as
saying that
some
subsequent
scientific
research makes
the… they no
longer stand
behind the
idea
that it can’t
be proved.
They are
saying it
pretty much
has been
proved, so…
Spokesperson:
Well, as I
say, there was
that Panel,
there were the
findings from
that Panel,
and clearly,
at this point,
given that the
UN has
received
claims and
those claims
are being
looked into,
we don’t
have any
further
comment right
now, okay?
And
not for the
week since,
either. Watch
this site.
, 
