Abstract
The United Nations’ handling of the allegations that its peacekeepers in Haiti are responsible for the largest number of cholera cases and deaths in the world is a public relations as well as public health disaster. Even those likely to be skeptical of mono-causal accounts of mass torts or who see that case unsympathetically— as an incident where “ungrateful” nationals turn on their humanitarian benefactors—cannot possibly be content with how the United Nations has handled this crisis to date. How does one begin to justify a situation in which it takes the United Nations fifteen months to respond to credible allegations of malfeasance, perhaps even recklessness, with a two-sentence response from its top lawyer that asserts simply, without explanation, that the claims of thousands of victims are just “not receivable” because they implicate “political” or “policy” concerns? How can the United Nations expect anyone to sympathize with its position where, according to the United Nations’ own account of when it is liable for the actions of its peacekeepers, it seems to be saying that the United Nations is responsible only for the small torts of its agents (such as traffic accidents) but not for large ones that cause the deaths of 8,500 and counting?
Highlights
Editor's note: The following is the third in our series of posts covering a recent panel discussion[1] held at the American Society of International Law's headquarters in Washington, DC
How does one begin to justify a situation in which it takes the United Nations fifteen months to respond to credible allegations of malfeasance[2], perhaps even recklessness, with a two-sentence response[3] from its top lawyer that asserts without explanation, that the claims of thousands of victims are just “not receivable” because they implicate “political” or “policy” concerns? How can the United Nations expect anyone to sympathize with its position where, according to the United Nations’ own account[4] of when it is liable for the actions of its peacekeepers, it seems to be saying that the United Nations is responsible only for the small torts of its agents but not for large ones that cause the deaths of 8,500 and counting?
The United Nations’ only response to date, the letter from its legal counsel, implicitly relies on immunity from suit—as if that were a satisfactory response to allegations that did the United Nations fail to screen peacekeepers for a disease common to their place of residence, but that it failed to supervise the disposal of black water from those peacekeepers in violation of basic standards of care propounded by numerous codes for humanitarian assistance including the Sphere standards;[11] UNICEF’s Handbook on Water Quality;[12] the UNHCR’s Handbook for Emergencies;[13] the WHO’s Technical Notes on DrinkingWater, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Emergencies;[14] or the Field Manual on Excreta Disposal in Emergencies[15] of the Water, Engineering, and Development centre at Loughborough University
Summary
Editor's note: The following is the third in our series of posts covering a recent panel discussion[1] held at the American Society of International Law's headquarters in Washington, DC. THE UN IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by some sixty-five members of the U.S Congress,[7] former President Clinton,[8] and innumerable media outlets including the New York Times.[9] As this panel demonstrates, it has generated a high-profile class action lawsuit[10] in a U.S district court, along with embarrassingly one-sided panels at highly visible forums such as the American Society of International Law, International Law Weekend, and various law schools On none of these occasions has the United Nations or any of its officials defended itself against the serious charges alleged. The result is that Haiti today continues to have a higher than advisable rate of cholera infection (1 percent)—in a country that had no known cases prior to the arrival of the United Nations peacekeepers in 2010—which means that it is only one tropical storm/hurricane away from a renewed public health calamity. With some resistance from some within the Haitian government, that
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