On
Haiti
Cholera, UN
Refuses Court
Papers, Like a
Scofflaw, US
to Support?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 20 --
Is the UN now
akin to a
dead-beat dad,
a fugitive or
a scofflaw?
When
the lawyers in
the class
action suit
for victims
of the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti tried
to serve the
complaint, the
UN "refused
to physically
receive
process."
Inner
City Press
asked the
victims'
lawyers for
more detail,
and was told:
they went to
the UN Office
of Legal
Affairs, now
led by Miguel
de
Serpa Soares,
but the UN
refused to
accept the
papers.
Now,
they tell
Inner City
Press, they
aim to ask for
permission for
an
alternate
mode: service
by
publication.
Those are the
legal notices
published in
newspapers,
often putting
deadbeat
parents on
notice
their wages
will be
garnished. How
has the UN
fallen this
low?
The
victims'
lawyers
anticipate the
UN, once it is
served if only
by
newspaper
publication,
making a
motion to
dismiss on the
grounds that
it is immune.
But, they say,
no remedy has
been provided,
nor any
alternative
mechanism.
Just
as Sri Lanka
military
figure, now
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Shavendra
Silva
successfully
did, the US
State
Department
will be
asked to make
a court filing
supporting
immunity.
This time, the
lawyers say,
there will be
a campaign to
ask the State
Department not
to support
impunity, with
letters to
Secretary of
State John
Kerry
including from
members of Congress.
On
Tuesday
evening, Inner
City Press filmed as
State
Department
official
Victoria Holt
heard the UN's
Edmond Mulet essentially
blame the
cholera deaths
on Haitian
under-development;
when given the
floor,
Holt said
nothing about
this. Video
here; longer
form analysis
by
this author
here, on
Beacon Reader.
In
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
for six days
now Inner City
Press has
asked a yes or
no question:
has UN
Peacekeeping
established
any of
the Standing
Claims
Commissions
provided for
its its Status
of Forces
Agreements.
On
November 14,
UN acting
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
said that
actually
setting these
up depends on
the request of
the mission's
host
government.
But that not
only ignores
the power
relations, it
does not
answer the yes
or no
question: has
any Standing
Claims
Commissions
been set up?
Haq
referred to
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
But its chief
Herve Ladsous
has refused to
answer basic
questions,
such as about
the 135 rapes
at Minova by
UN
Peacekeeping's
partners in
the
Congolese
Army. Video
here, UK
coverage here.
So would will
this
simple
question be
answered?
Not
on November
18. Asked
again, Haq
said the
question had
been put to UN
Peacekeeping,
but it's "not
a yes or no
question." Video
here. If
the answer's
yes, can't it
be said in
four days? And
if no -
what's the
explanation?
Or does the UN
Peacekeeping
under Ladsous
think they can
just not
answer?
Waiting
two
days, and
after filming
UN
Peacekeeping
deputy Edmond
Mulet
Tuesday night,
here, Inner
City Press, on
November 20
asked Haq
again, saying
it had been
six days. Haq
replied that
counting days
is
not helpful.
But how can UN
Peacekeeping
not answer a
basic question
in six days?
We will keep
asking. Watch
this site.