UN experts criticize treatment of Haitian cholera victims | the National

More than 12 independent United Nations human rights experts criticized the International Agency for its response to the cholera epidemic in Haiti which left more than 10,000 dead and more than 800,000 injured after being brought in by UN peacekeepers shortly after the devastating Haiti earthquake in 2010.

The group, which includes the outgoing UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, says the UN’s response and failure to compensate victims has fallen short. They are appealing to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to urgently intensify efforts to fulfill the United Nations pledge to assist the victims.

Alston told the Miami Herald: “The hope was that S-G Guterres would take seriously the demands that the United Nations already recognized as being responsible for bringing cholera, but he systematically avoided tackling this crucial issue in any way.” “He seems satisfied with the absence of formal UN asylum procedures when UN actors trigger these types of disasters, and this appears to be a very serious policy when the UN is attacked from many directions.”

A group of 14 experts told Guterres in a message, that the importance of relief to Haitian cholera victims is more urgent in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could deliver a double blow to them and their families.

Experts have also written to the Haitian government asking why it has done nothing to advance the cause of victims and why it has not used its legal right to challenge the United Nations in the International Court of Justice.

Alston, who asked the United Nations in a report to the United Nations General Assembly in 2016, told the United Nations to accept its legal responsibility for the outbreak and provide several years, to obtain an invitation from the government so that these and other matters can be discussed. Appropriate treatments.

Alston said that COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, has brought in much greater awareness of what it means to lose 10,000 people in a pandemic.

“While some countries express their anger and demand accountability for what appears to be a natural breakthrough, it is useful to remember the fact that none of these countries said or did anything to hold the United Nations to account when the facts are,” Alston said, “It is indisputable And his responsibility is indisputable. “

With COVID-19 and the adoption of similar cholera prevention measures, much has already been reminded of the water-borne disease that struck Haiti 10 months after the earthquake, when the Nepalese peacekeepers polluted a large river.

Just as COVID-19 came to highlight Haiti’s poor health system and its vulnerability, so did cholera, which often sickens and kills those who cannot get clean water and sanitation.

During the cholera outbreak, the government and aid organizations strongly emphasized washing hands and not shaking hands, even as the United Nations refused to accept blame for its role. Cholera treatment centers have risen across the country, so that then-Haitian President Rene Preval went to the airwaves to show the Haitians how to make a life-saving treatment to keep them hydrated if they are injured. Although Preval’s instructions were criticized by some in the private sector who thought they were not deserving of a president, many residents, who lacked access to a health center, welcomed it.

Today, Haitians still face similar challenges, with the exception of no treatment or vaccine for COVID-19. About 35% of Haitians still lack basic drinking water services and two-thirds have limited or no sanitation, which is well below average in the region, according to the US Health Organization.

Of the $ 400 million the United Nations began seeking nearly three years ago, among other things, to expand access to water and sanitation in the country, only $ 20.5 million was raised. Meanwhile, experts said, only “pitiful $ 3.2 million” has been spent.

“This is a very disappointing offer after the loss of 10,000 people,” they said.

Experts also raised concerns about the United Nations’ refusal to provide individual compensation, which was urged by victims in protests and banners across the country. Instead, the United Nations has focused on developing community assistance programs, which experts said were designed without consulting victims.

Experts said: “Some victims prefer cash payments, an option that was once on the table, but the United Nations apparently blocked this possibility without consulting or providing a detailed feasibility assessment.” “Compensation is usually an essential component of the right to an effective remedy, and development projects simply are not a substitute for compensation.”

Earlier this year, the United Nations noticed that Haiti was heading towards being cholera-free.

The last confirmed case was a boy under 5 years old in Esther in the Artibonite area during the last week of January 2019. He recovered. To consider the elimination of cholera, the state must remain free of cholera for three years.

Human rights defenders fighting for cholera victims said that the experts’ statement was conveyed in a formal communication process that is usually used to interrogate governments about human rights violations. This, they said, shows growing concerns within the United Nations human rights system of the organization’s failure to fulfill its obligations to cholera victims.

“We believe it is unprecedented for such a broad alliance of UN mandate holders to send a message that raises” previous failures and continuing violations “by the United Nations itself. For justice and democracy in Haiti,” said Sandra C. Wisner, employee attorney at the Boston Institute.

The experts’ message to Guterres and the Haitian government was prompted by a formal complaint by IJDH and its Haitian partner, the Avocado International Office and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School in January.

(Editors: The Story Can End Here)

The complaint criticizes the “new United Nations approach to cholera in Haiti”. Among the concerns raised: The United Nations’ reliance on voluntary contributions to fund the plan from member states. Marginalization of victims in planning and implementation; preference for community projects over direct compensation; and the United Nations’ failure to take corrective action to prevent a recurrence of the cholera tragedy.

“These shortcomings have gained renewed urgency in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as cholera survivors remain particularly vulnerable,” Wessner said.

Photo (for help with photos, call 412-222-4194): Antonio Guterres

Copyright 2020 Tribune Content Agency.

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