On
Haiti Cholera
Denial,
O'Brien Tells
ICP “Nothing
More to Say,”
Toxic Policy?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
9 -- The UN's
terse
dismissal of
legal claims
for
killing
thousands of
people in
Haiti by
introducing
cholera is
a very
low point for
the
Organization.
As
the decision
is ascribed to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
outgoing
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien, Inner
City Press has
wanted to ask
her about
it for some
time. Some UN
sources say
that O'Brien
and others
around
Ban urged a
“more just
response” to
the cholera
victims'
claims.
Since this
will be a
significant
part of
O'Brien's
legacy of five
years
as the UN's
lawyer, it
seemed only
fair to ask
her.
Tuesday
O'Brien
spoke, not off
the record, in
Conference
Room A in the
UN's
basement.
Inner City
Press was
called the
only media
there; O'Brien
acknowledge it
was not
"Chatham
House" rules,
that is, it
was for
attribution.
Her opening
remarks were
about the rule
of law; Inner
City
Press' Haiti
cholera
dismissal
question was
the last
question she
took.
Having
seen
the letter she
sent on July 5
to the lawyers
for the Haiti
cholera
victims,
Inner City
Press asked
her if the
defense that
the
claims involve
UN “policy”
and are
therefore not
receivable
means
that dumping
disease-laden
waste water in
rivers is UN
policy.
O'Brien,
who
also answered
Inner City
Press about
the UN's Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy,
said on Haiti
that “after a
lengthy and
detailed
and difficult
analysis of
this
situation” the
UN's
conclusion was
two sentences,
in her July 5
letter:
“consideration
of
these claims
would
necessarily
include a
review of
political and
policy
matters.
Accordingly
these claims
are not
receivable
pursuant
to Section 29
of the
Convention on
the Privileges
and Immunities
of
the United
Nations,
adopted by the
General
Assembly on 13
February
1946.”
So
IS it UN
policy to dump
toxic waste in
rivers?
O'Brien said
“that
is the answer,
I have nothing
further to say
about the
claims.” She
said she could
speak about
Haiti for
hours - but it
was time for
her
to go, she
said, up to
the 38th
floor where
Ban Ki-moon
works. A high
floor, a low
hour. Watch
this
site.
, 
