In
Haiti,
Duvalier Case
May Help Sue
UN for
Cholera,
Banning
Coverage
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
7 -- Two weeks
after the UN
tersely
dismissed
claims
that it killed
8000 people by
introducing
cholera to
Haiti,
Inner
City Press
asked two
lawyers from
the Institute
for Justice
and
Democracy in
Haiti about
the next
steps, and
about the
Duvalier case
currently
being heard.
Speaking
from
Port-au-Prince,
IJDH staff
attorney
Nicole
Phillips said
that
anyone there
who cares
about human
rights is
troubled by
the UN's
statement that
the claims are
“not
receivable.”
IJDH's
Brian
Concannon said
that
developments
in the
Duvalier case
could
strength the
Haitian
judicial
system for the
cases against
the UN to
be filed there
and elsewhere
(Inner City
Press hears,
in the
European
Court of Human
Rights.)
But
at the UN in
New York, the
Secretariat of
Ban Ki-moon
has tried to
end the story
and coverage
before it even
begins.
The day Ban's
dismissal
was announced,
the UN gave
the first noon
briefing
question
to the
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
Pamela Falk of
CBS, who
asked not
about Haiti
but rather
about a letter
she had
written to the
UN.
When
Inner City
Press
challenged
these
priorities, it
was hauled in
for a
meeting. After
reporting on
its (having
said, “you are
on the
record”),
Inner City
Press has
received a false
complaint from
the
boss of UN
Media
Accreditation
Stephane
Dujarric,
saying Falk
and her
first vice
president
Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters were
and apparently
are not to be
quoted.
This
is why they
call it the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Ironically,
at
the February
22 meeting
Dujarric said
there should
be more
coverage of
the UN,
including
Haiti. But at
the noon
briefings,
Ban's
spokespeople
tell Inner
City Press day
after day,
there will be
no
more answers.
At
the March
7 noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
another
question
about Haiti:
Inner
City Press: I
am assuming
that MINUSTAH
would be aware
of it, there
is a camp of
displaced
people —
displaced by
the hurricane
— near
Port-au-Prince
called Grace
Village and it
is facing not
only
eviction, but
the Government
has said that
they are going
to arrest a
number of
people inside
without giving
any reasons —
it’s called
arbitrary
arrest — and I
am wondering,
given that
MINUSTAH is
there, are
they trying to
get involved
in this one in
any way? Are
they aware of
it, and what
do they think
of the arrest
threats?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: I’ll
ask our
colleagues; I
don’t have
anything
on that, but I
am sure they
will let us
know.
There
was no answer,
eight hours
later and
counting.
The
“colleagues”
would be the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
run by Herve
Ladsous, busy
on Thursday
providing spin
answers to
Inner City
Press'
questions
about 126
raped in
Minova by the
UN's partners
in the
Congolese Army
-- to friendlier
journalists,
who like Falk
of UNCA
(and CBS?)
don't ask
about Haiti.
Ladsous has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions
about what
safeguards, if
any, he has
implemented to
try to not
kill MORE
people by
bringing
cholera in.
Maybe Ladsous
can now
spoonfeed a
false answer
to his
friendly
scribes? So it
goes at the
UN: impunity
corrupts.
Watch this
site.
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