On
Haiti
Evictions & Clinton Commission, UN Spin in a Time of Cholera
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 27 -- Amid reports from Haiti
of evictions in Delmas and
a Prime Minister nominee questioning the effectiveness of the aid
commission chaired by former US President (and current UN envoy) Bill
Clinton, Inner City Press on May 27 put these questions to the UN and
to Haiti's Permanent Representative of the UN, with different
answers.
On
the evictions,
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said that the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs, which as been criticized for canceling a
meeting in the face of the evictions, has spoken with the government
and that the evictions will stop.
Haiti's
Permanent
Representative, meanwhile, told Inner City Press that he hadn't heard
that the evictions would stop, that it is up to the local mayor. He
asked, is the UN letting the people stay?
On
the
Clinton-chaired commission, Nesirky said that Haiti has said gone
back on the statements. Inner City Press said it had seen that, but
asked what the UN's role in the Clinton commission is. Nesirky
answered with a question: if you knew of the second statement, why
did you ask only about the first?
Nesirky
said, “So
why did you use the other quotes, then? That’s what I am
interested in.” Again, for a clear description of the UN's role in
the commission. It is still not clear.
Haiti's
Permanent
Representative emphasized to Inner City Press that these were the
personal views of a person who has not yet even been confirmed as
prime minister. And then he was gone.
UN peacekeeper blocks cholera, protection of civilians not shown
From
the
UN's
transcript of its May 27 noon briefing:
Inner
City
Press: I wanted to ask about Haiti. I have got two things
that, two things on Haiti. One is, there have been sort of mass
evictions of camps where people have been living since the
earthquake, in the Delmas area; and some members of Congress of the
United States have actually, you know, spoken and said that
questioned, including OCHA’s role in cancelling meetings about
these camps. And I just wanted to know, what is MINUSTAH or OCHA
have to say about that? And also, there have been some discussions
about the new Government eliminating or changing this. President
[William] Clinton, the UN Envoy, chairs a commission on
reconstruction aid, and it’s said it’s been inefficient and they
would like to cancel it. So what does MINUSTAH say about both of
these developments?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: On the first, our understanding is — and my
colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
have provided some information on this — the evictions have been
suspended. And the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs has been in contact with the authorities so that these
evictions don’t start up again. And the Humanitarian Coordinator
for Haiti, Nigel Fisher, has expressed his appreciation that the
Government has acted quickly in this regard.
On
the
second question, in fact, the designated Prime Minister has been
quoted in a number of places in different ways. Certainly, our
understanding is that the new Government may wish to look at the
nature of the Commission and how it works. I think that that would
be entirely natural, and it is something for the authorities to do
with our colleagues on the ground, who have been working on this for
some time.
Inner
City
Press: No, no, I have seen those reports, and thanks. I am just
wondering, what is the UN’s...?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
So why did you use the other quotes, then? That’s what I
am interested in.
Inner
City
Press: [inaudible] remains in play and it’s unclear to me what
the UN’s role in that is. I know that President Clinton is Ban
Ki-moon’s Envoy, but he also chairs that Commission. Is it a UN
Commission and does, that’s why, I mean, it’s exactly this,
what’s the UN’s role…?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I think you know what the role of the Commission is. As I
say, it is for the incoming Government to speak to UN officials,
other officials including President Clinton in his role as a Special
Envoy, and in his role with that Commission, simply to talk through
how things can work better. I think everybody accepts that there is
more that needs to be done. It’s a natural process, given the
scale of the disaster that occurred in Haiti.
“You
know what
the role of the Commission is”? No, not so much.
* * *
Report
Links
UN
to Cholera in Haiti, South Asia Strain, Bad Practices,
Denials
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
4 -- The much
delayed
report to the UN on whether it was
the proximate cause of the cholera outbreak in Haiti was given to
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week, and was released by
the UN after 5 pm on Wednesday, here.
The
report
concludes that “the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion
that the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to
contamination of the Meye Tributary of the Artibonite River with a
pathogenic strain of current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a
result of human activity.”
The
report also
chides the UN for its sanitation practices, recommending
1)
The
Haiti
cholera outbreak highlights the risk of transmitting
cholera during mobilization of population for emergency response. To
prevent introduction of cholera into non-endemic countries, United
Nations personnel and emergency responders traveling from cholera
endemic areas should either receive a prophylactic dose of
appropriate antibiotics before departure or be screened with a
sensitive method to confirm absence of asymptomatic carriage of
Vibrio cholerae, or both.
2)
United
Nations
missions commonly operate in emergencies with
concurrent cholera epidemics. All United Nations personnel and
emergency responders traveling to emergencies should receive
prophylactic antibiotics, be immunized against cholera with currently
available oral vaccines, or both, in order to protect their own
health and to protect the health of others.
3)
To
prevent
introduction of contamination into the local environment,
United Nations installations worldwide should treat fecal waste using
on-site systems that inactivate pathogens before disposal.
The
report
is beginning to be called "shifty," for blaming the UN but also
a "confluence of circumstances." Inner
City Press back on
January
11 asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Nesirky
about calls in Haiti for compensation from the UN for cholera.
From
the
transcript:
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.
And
now they have.
How will the UN respond?
Secrtary
General Ban Ki-moon, setting out on a trip to Bulgaria, has said he
"intends
to
convene
a task force within the United Nations system, to study
the findings and recommendations made by the Independent Panel of
Experts to ensure prompt and appropriate follow-up.... On behalf of
the UN family, the Secretary-General reiterates his deepest
sympathies to the victims of the epidemic and their loved ones."
Is that
enough? Watch this site.
, 
