Amid
Protests at UN
For Bringing
Cholera to
Haiti,
UNanswered
Questions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 26
-- On a day of
protest
outside the UN
General
Assembly for
the UN having
brought
cholera to
Haiti and
killed over
8,200 people,
inside Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
to respond to
the protests.
Nesirky
repeated
the UN's line
that the
claims are
"not
receivable,"
but then added
that the UN is
nevertheless
trying to
raise funds
for,
for example,
water and
sanitation
projects.
The
protesters are
also speaking
about
reparations --
that is,
accountability
-- and are not
convinced by
what the UN
has said and
done to date.
In
fact, the UN's
most recent
report on
cholera
doesn't
address who
brought the
cholera there.
Meanwhile the
UN
demands that
its report
for example on
chemical
weapons in
Syria be
treated
seriously, as
"overwhelming"
and impartial.
The
UN's actions
in Haiti,
like for
example in Sri
Lanka and the
Eastern Congo,
have
undermined
the UN's
credibility on
the issues
that Ban says
are most
important,
like Syria.
There is also
now the matter
of the Sri
Lankan soldier
charged with
rape in Haiti:
where is he?
What will be
done?
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
in which of
Ban Ki-moon's
many bilateral
meeting he had
raised the
need to
respond to
cholera in
Haiti.
Nesirky said
it is being
raised. We'll
continue to
review the
read-outs
provided of
the meetings
-- while the
protests
continue,
and grow. The
next step, it
seems, must be
litigation.
Watch this
site.
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