UNITED
NATIONS, April
24 -- The UN's
bringing of
cholera to
Haiti and then
terse
dismissal of
the legal
claims as “not
receivable”
have left
it less
willing or
less able to
speak out
about other
abuses in
Haiti,
including by
the
government.
The
UN got the
Haitian
government to
remain
relatively
silent about
the
cholera claims
and their
dismissal.
Now, the UN
“owes” the
government.
So
when evictions
of internally
displaced
people spiked
up this year,
alongside
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's and
his top lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien's
dismissal of
the cholera
claims, the UN
has not spoken
up
much.
On
April 24,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
if he
had any
comment ready
on a widely
spread report
of nearly 1000
eviction this
year.
Apparently
MINUSTAH and
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
headed by
Herve Ladsous
had not
prepared one.
(Click here
for "Ladsous'
Loophole"
on sexual
abuse by UN
Police, at
least from
Canada, it
seems.)
So
lower income
people in
Haiti were
victimized by
cholera, then
had
their claims
dismissed. Now
many are
facing
eviction, and
again --
now, because
of the above
-- the UN is
relatively
silent.
Here
is another
related matter
on which the
UN has stayed
quiet, per
Amnesty:
“On
31 January
2012, Haiti’s
National
Assembly
adopted a law
ratifying
the ICESCR.
However, for
the proper
ratification
of the ICESCR
to
take place,
Haiti’s
President must
promulgate and
publish the
new
legislation in
Le Moniteur
(Haiti’s
official
gazette) and
then the
government
must submit a
ratification
document to
the United
Nations
Secretary
General. At
the time of
this writing,
the President
had not
yet
promulgated
the law
ratifying the
ICESCR.”
And what
has Ban
Ki-moon said?
The
UN's top
humanitarian
Valerie Amos,
who often
speaks with
passion,
gave a 600
word speech in
Haiti -- but “cholera”
was not one of
the words.
Who
will tell the
UN Secretariat
to be more
credible?
Watch this
site.
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