Haitian protest for cholera compensation
Several thousand people have taken part in a protest in Haiti, demanding that the United Nations pays compensation to people with cholera. The protesters say UN peacekeepers inadvertently carried the disease into Haiti, causing an epidemic which has killed almost 7,000 people. Several studies have found that cholera was probably brought to Haiti by UN troops from Nepal.
A U.S.-based rights group has filed for pay-outs for thousands of the victims. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) says it is prepared to go to court in Haiti or the US if the UN does not respond to the claims, which amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. It says the UN mission in Haiti failed to screen peacekeepers for cholera and allowed untreated waste from a UN base to be dumped into the main river.
The UN has accepted the possibility peacekeepers from Nepal may have brought cholera in, but says this has yet to be proven scientifically. It says it is continuing to do everything it can to bring the spread of the disease under control in the poverty-stricken nation. Almost 500,000 people - some 5% of the population - have been infected by cholera since the outbreak began in October 2010, according to the Haitian Ministry of Health.
Photos by Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and Bureau des avocats internationaux
Press release:
Haitian Victims of UN Cholera Tell UN: “Universal Means Haitians Too”
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, December 7, 2011 – On Friday, December 9, 2011, victims of the cholera that United Nations (
UN) troops introduced to Haiti will demonstrate at the
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (
MINUSTAH) base in St. Marc to demand that the
UN respond justly to the cholera epidemic.
The demonstration coincides with Human Rights Day 2011, the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (
UDHR). The
UDHR enshrines people’s basic human rights, including the rights to life, health, and a just remedy for violations of these rights. The
UDHR declares that these rights are “universal.”
Cholera victims remind the UN that “universal” human rights belong to Haitians too.
As the
UN rallies the world to honor the
UDHR via its “Celebrate Human Rights” campaign, it continues to deny thousands of Haitians the very rights the
UDHR enshrines.
On November 3, 2011, over 5,000 cholera victims
submitted claims to the
UN asking that it take responsibility for causing the cholera outbreak. The claims ask the
UN to compensate victims and install the health and clean water programs necessary to control the epidemic.
More than one month later, the UN has yet to respond to victims’ claims and has declined to give a timeline for a response. In that time, an estimated 26,000 more Haitians contracted cholera and over 200 died. Since October 2010 over 500,000 Haitians have contracted cholera, with over 7,000 killed.
Cholera victims will gather in St. Marc to insist that the UN respond justly to victims and act to stop this ongoing harm. Victims from the Artibonite Region, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the Groupe d’Action pour la Defense des Droits Humains (GADH) are co-organizing the demonstration.
Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney of the BAI and the victims’ attorney, remarks, “The UN says it needs more time. We do not have time. Fourteen months later, cholera is sickening tens of thousands of Haitians and killing hundreds more each month. The UN must act now to end this injustice.”
Marc-Arthur Mèsidort, President of the GADH states, “Human rights are universal, belonging to all people, including the Haitian people—the UN has a responsibility to respect our rights. The UN must show that it is not above the law.
For more information, including case documents and background materials, see http://ijdh.org/cholera-litigation.
