Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

On Haiti, UN Fetes Itself, Ignores Call for Cholera Indictment, Immunity Withdrawal

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 11 -- While the UN congratulates itself on its reactions in Haiti, it dismisses all criticism, including from Haitian women's NGOs, and has refused so far to remove the diplomatic immunity (or impunity) of a UN staff members whom a Haitian judge wants to question about the hanging death of a Haitian teenager inside a UN base.

  Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky on Tuesday whether Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will in fact revoke the immunity of UN interpreter Joelle Rozefort, in the case of the boy found hanged in the Nepali peacekeepers' camp in Cap Haitien. From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: there was a case some time ago of a boy that was found hung — a Haitian boy found hung in a Nepali base in Cap Haitien. Some say that Mr. Mulet has asked the Secretary-General to remove the immunity of a national staff member there, Joelle Rozefort, so she can testify to a court about this. Is that – one, has Mr. Mulet made the request? But whether he has or not, is the Secretary-General considering removing the immunity of this staff member to respond to a court subpoena?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: I’m aware of the incident you’re referring to in which someone was found to have been hanged. And I think we may be able to provide you with a little bit more information on the question that you’ve asked a little bit later.

  But nine hours later, no information had been provided. The transcript continued:

Inner City Press: And just one other thing, maybe just for a response…

Spokesperson: Is this about Haiti?

Inner City Press: It is about Haiti. There’s a group there known as SOFA, the Solidarité des Femmes Haïtiennes. They’ve recently, I guess in connection with, or slightly before this one-year anniversary, they’ve said that – I guess, more explosively, they’ve asked the Government to somehow indict the UN for – they say – having brought cholera. But they’ve also raised this issue of compensation – so I wanted to make sure that the two things – can you, they’re saying that the UN should pay some compensation for - for cholera. That’s their claim. They’re a Haitian group, you can – so I guess I just want to know, what’s the UN response to that? Are they aware of that call, and what’s their response?

Spokesman Nesirky [misidentified as “Question” in Transcript] -- As you know, the Secretary-General instituted a panel. Those four experts are working precisely to establish the source of the outbreak of cholera, which has not been established so far. That’s their job to do so, to the extent that they are able to do so, and to report back to the Secretary-General and the Government of Haiti as quickly as they can. And to go the next step beyond that is not really helpful at this point. There is a clear job to do, and that’s the job that the panel has been asked to carry out as swiftly as possible, and in the meantime, of course, the key priority is to help those people – you heard from Mr. [Nigel] Fisher yesterday about the death rates being lower, but still the number of cases being very high. So this is something that needs to be tackled as a priority.

Inner City Press [misidentified as Spokesperson in transcript]: So I understand that the panel comes first. But I just want to know, I mean maybe you can answer this — does the idea, in the abstract, of compensation seem unreasonable to the UN? Depending on what it finds?

Spokesman Nesirky [misidentified as “Question” in Transcript]: Look, I don’t – this is something that – let’s do things step-by-step. And the most important thing is to help those in need. You’ve heard extensively, not just from Mr. Fisher but most recently from Mr. Fisher, on that. And you also know that this — the four panel members, experts each in their own right, are working hard to establish precisely what the source of the outbreak was, if they are able to do so. Okay. Thank you very much.

  A few hours later in the UN's North Lawn building, an event was held about Haiti, sponsored by Canada's Mission to the UN and a trio of NGOs. Canada's Permanent Representative John McNee sat on the panel and spoke, but when the Q&A started, McNee left the room and took no questions, not even about his country pulling out of Jacmel. In fact, Inner City Press was not allowed to ask any questions at all.

UN peacekeeper blocks cholera, protection of civilians not shown

 Meanwhile, an intrepid correspondent spotted Alain Le Roy in JFK Airport in New York on Tuesday morning seeking to fly American to Haiti for the anniversary. While others were unceremoniously booted from the flight, which also include Wyclef Jean, Le Roy remained on, leading some to wonder if despite the relatively short length he was flying first class. We'll see what he say while in Haiti -- he said little of use from Cote d'Ivoire. Watch this site.