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.
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.
***
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