On
Haiti Cholera, After
ICP Asked SG
Guterres, UN Spins, Victims
To Protest in
Port au Prince
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
June 21 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres held
a press conference on June 20,
Inner City Press about the UN
having brought cholera to
Haiti under his predecessor
Ban Ki-moon but now reneging
even on what Ban belatedly
proposed for individual
reparations. Inner City Press
mentioned upcoming protests in
Haiti that it will be covering
from there, June 22 and 23.
Guterres announced that he was
just then - minutes later the
announcement went out - naming
as a new special envoy on
Haiti Josette Sheeran,
formerly the director of the
UN World Food Program and now
the head of the Asia Society.
Video here.
Transcript here
and below. He seemed to say
the UN was never going to
compensate individuals or
families impacted by the
cholera the UN brought. On
June 21 Inner City Press asked
Guterres' deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq to clarify. UN
Video here,
from Minute 16:21. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press: this was
something that the
Secretary-General said on the
record when I asked him about
the seeming change in the
cholera in Haiti plan.
And he said that that policy
was announced by his
predecessor and had two
dimensions; one is fighting
cholera, and the other is the
possibility to support
communities impacted. It
was devised not as individual
support. And just, since
then, I went back and actually
looked at the November
A/71/620 document, and there’s
a whole section on individual
support. It was called
track 2B. So I just
wanted to--
Deputy Spokesman: And I
was here at the time.
And I remember the discussions
that the former
Secretary-General, Ban
Ki-moon, had about this.
And, at that point, it was not
determined whether it would be
individual or
community-based. Even at
that point, I believe the
discussion was towards
community-based. So
that’s something that’s… a
process that’s been crafted.
Inner City Press: I wish
I’d had that document in front
of me when he answered,
because there are many people
that are in Haiti that have
seen the new announcement made
by Amina Mohammed as a
retrenchment, as a taking back
of that before even consulting
people. Mario Joseph and
others have put out a press
release; they’re protesting on
Thursday. So I wanted to
just get your quote before
that protest, that at one time
the idea of individual
reparations to people harmed
by cholera was in a UN
document as being considered
and it’s now not being
considered at all?
Deputy Spokesman: I
wouldn’t say that it’s not
being considered at all.
And I wouldn’t say that
initially it was something
that was devised as the
primary idea. This is
something that’s been under
consideration. It
remains under consideration,
but the primary focus, for
reasons that were described at
the end of last year and again
at the start of this year,
have been
community-based. And if
you look at what Ban Ki-moon
said in December, again, it
mentions the community-based
approach.
But the UN
document in November 2016 has
a Track 2B, individual. Here's
the beginning of the press
release for the protests:
"Port-au-Prince: Haitian
cholera victims and their
advocates called on the UN
Security Council to deliver on
the promise of a new,
victim-centered approach to
cholera during its visit to
Haiti this week, by meeting
directly with victims and
committing to funding the $400
million initiative before
MINUSTAH --the peacekeeping
mission that caused the
cholera epidemic—pulls out in
October. 'The UN’s apology and
promises were promising in
December,' said Mario Joseph,
Managing Attorney of the
Bureau des Avocats
Internationaux (BAI) that has
led the fight for justice for
cholera victims. 'But seven
months later, with only a
pittance raised for the
so-called "New Approach" and
not a single promised
consultation with the cholera
victims, they look like empty
public relations gestures. It
is time for the UN to
deliver.' The 15-member
Security Council is in Haiti
from June 22-24 to finalize
the transition from MINUSTAH
to a new mission focused on
supporting justice that will
be known as MINUJUSTH. The BAI
announced two protests during
the visit: one at the UN
logistics base in Haiti on
Thursday at 11 am, and a
second one in Champs de Mars
on Friday at 11." We'll have
more on this: Inner City Press
will be accompanying and
covering, in as much detail as
possible, the UN Security
Council's visit to Haiti from
June 22 to 24. Watch this
site.
Footnote: on
behalf of the Free
UN Coalition for Access,
to which Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric does NOT "lend" the
briefing room and which has
never and will never ask for a
journalist to be thrown
out or restricted, Inner
City Press urged Guterres to
more routinely take questions,
for example on his way in and
out of the Security Council.
We'll see.
Inner City Press:
Matthew Lee, Inner City Press.
On behalf of the Free UN
Coalition for Access, thanks
for the briefing. Glad to have
it. Stakeouts would also be
useful when you speak to the
Council. But I wanted to
ask you about cholera in
Haiti. As you may know, while
you were away, your deputy
gave... gave the speech, and
many people in Haiti
interpreted it as a... as a
pulling back from the idea of
compensating victims of the
cholera that was brought.
Maybe they misunderstand it,
but they put out a press
release. There's a protest
planned there on Thursday
during the Council's
visit. So I wanted to
ask you, I know that Member
States haven't come forward
with what they might have, but
are you going to put more time
in? Do you think that the idea
of actually compensating the
people whose family members
were killed by cholera is
still alive?
Secretary-General: First
of all, in relation to Haiti,
the policy that was announced
by my predecessor had two
dimensions. One is fighting
cholera, and the other is the
possibility to support,
namely, to support communities
impacted. It was devised, not
as individual support, but
community support for the
communities impacted. As
you mentioned, there has been
little voluntary funding for
these projects. So we have
presented a proposal for the
amounts that were not spent in
the previous mission in Haiti
and that should be given back
to countries, for countries to
be ready to accept not to
receive those amounts back in
order to be able to fund the
cholera programme. And,
at the same time, we have just
appointed Ms. Josette Sheeran
as my Special Envoy for Haiti,
centred, of course, in the
fundraising for cholera. She
was, as you know, the World
Food Programme leader a few
years ago. She is now
President of the Asia Society,
and she accepted, with a
salary of $1 per year, she
accepted to be fully engaged
in fundraising for a programme
that, indeed, until now, has
received very little support
but that is very important
from the point of view of the
people and from the point of
view of the credibility of the
UN.
***
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