The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 28
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- On 3 November 2011, a petition was lodged with MINUSTAH on behalf of some 5,000 cholera victims claiming (a) a fair and impartial hearing; (b) monetary compensation; (c) preventive action by the United Nations; and (d) a public acknowledgement of United Nations responsibility and a public apology. Sixteen months later the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs replied, noting that "the United Nations is extremely saddened by the catastrophic outbreak of cholera, and the Secretary-General has expressed his profound sympathy for the terrible suffering caused by the cholera outbreak". The Under-Secretary-General went on to make what seems to be an indirect reference to the theory that the earthquake that had occurred nine months earlier was the real culprit: "The cholera outbreak was not only an enormous national disaster, but was also a painful reminder of Haiti's vulnerability in the event of a national emergency." After recalling the independent panel's "confluence of circumstances" and no fault findings, the Under-Secretary-General deemed the claims "not receivable pursuant to Section 29 of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations". That provision requires the United Nations to provide for appropriate modes of settlement of disputes of a private law character to which it is a party, but the Under-Secretary-General considered the claims not to be of a "private law character" because their consideration "would necessarily include a review of political and policy matters".
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph number
- 28
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