On
Haiti
Cholera,
Threat to Sue
in 60 Days As
UN Has Not
Reformed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 8
-- For killing
8,000 people
in Haiti by UN
Peacekeeping's
introduction
of cholera,
according to
the lawyers
who filed
claims and are
now prepared
to sue, the
UN's response
has been a
short letter
in December
2011 and a
dismissal of
claims in
February 2013.
In a
letter just
filed with
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien, the
claimants'
lawyers give
the UN sixty
day before
filing suit.
(Inner City
Press put
the letter
online, here,
just after the
2 pm embargo.)
Inner
City Press
asked them if
they intend to
sue in the
European Court
of Human
Rights, where
a recent
decision lays
the groundwork
for such a
case. Ira
Kurzban said
one case in
the United
States, and
another in an
undisclosed
venue in
Europe.
The
chief of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve Ladsous,
has repeatedly
refused to
answer
Inner City
Press'
questions
including if
he has
implemented
any safeguards
at all, to try
to ensure not
bringing
disease to yet
another
country.
On
Wednesday,
Inner City
Press asked
Brian
Concannon of
the Institute
for Justice
and Democracy
in Haiti is he
is aware of
any safeguards
implemented by
the UN. He
said no, and
more:
Wednesday's video here.
Now
Ban's lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien, who
unlike her
predecessor
Nicolas Michel
does not hold
press
conferences or
take
questions, is
said to be
headed to
Geneva, to
represent
Ireland there.
Would a new
top UN lawyer
change
anything? The
sixty day
deadline seems
solid.
And
what about the
rule of law?
Concannon said
he worked on
the issue, for
the UN in
Haiti, back in
the 1990s.
Now, he said,
when the UN
gives
trainings in
Haiti, people
laugh at them,
after the
dismissal of
the cholera
claims.
And
yet under
Ladsous UN
Peacekeeping
is poised for
a new mission
in Mali, and a
new
Intervention
Battalion in
the Eastern
Congo. What
could go
wrong? Watch
this site.
, 
