The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 70
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- Human rights. One of the most impressive human rights achievements of the United Nations in recent years emerged from a similar time of crisis within the Organization as a result of its role in the final months of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2010. In response to concerted criticism, the Secretary-General first commissioned an internal review panel to explore whether the United Nations had met its responsibilities to prevent and respond to serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law. He then followed up by announcing his Human Rights Up Front initiative, which "aims to help the United Nations act more coherently across the pillars of the Organization's work - peace and security, development, and human rights". As the Deputy Secretary-General has noted: "Human Rights Up Front is about improving how the United Nations system functions and how staff members are to perform." Yet the refusal to address the human rights violations that have occurred in Haiti as a result of the cholera epidemic stands in stark contrast to the excellent intentions of that initiative. Unless action is taken, the message is that a double standard applies according to which the United Nations can insist that Member States respect human rights, while rejecting any such responsibility for itself even in a particularly egregious situation.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph number
- 70
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