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UN rejects claims from cholera victims
22 February 2013
The United Nations has formally rejected damage claims from lawyers working on behalf
of the victims of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. UN peacekeepers have been accused of
introducing the disease to the country, which has infected more than 600,000 people and
killed around 8,000 since 2010. Barbara Plett reports for the BBC:
In a terse statement, the spokesman for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the
damages claim was 'not receivable', under a convention that grants the United Nations
immunity for its actions.
Families of the victims are demanding millions of dollars in compensation, accusing the
UN of introducing the disease to Haiti. The UN has never admitted responsibility, despite
mounting evidence that the epidemic was caused by poor sanitation at a peacekeeping
camp.
A lawyer for the cholera victims told the BBC that UN immunity could not mean
impunity, and said the case would now be pursued in a national court. The lawyer, Brian
Concannon, said the victims' legal team would challenge the UN's right to immunity from
Haitian courts, on the grounds that it hadn't established an alternative mechanism for
dealing with accountability issues, as stipulated in its agreement with the government.
He also said lifting immunity would not challenge UN policy, which is protected by the
convention, but its practice, such as how to test troops for disease and properly dispose
of sewage.
There's evidence that infected Nepalese peacekeepers caused the epidemic by dumping
untreated waste into a key river system, but the UN insists it's impossible to pinpoint
blame definitively. Late last year it launched an initiative to eliminate cholera in Haiti by
investing in clean drinking water and sanitation systems, a move Mr Concannon said he
considered an unofficial response to the victims' claims.
Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
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bbclearningenglish.com
Vocabulary and definitions
terse
short and angry
convention
acceptable and agreed way to do something
immunity
protection from legal action
compensation
payment for the problems that they have faced
mounting
increasing
sanitation
facilities for providing clean water and disposing of
human waste
impunity
protection from punishment
mechanism
acceptable and effective procedure
stipulated
specified as important and necessary
to pinpoint
to precisely/exactly locate
Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/02/130222_witn_cholera.shtml
Related News story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21543467
Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
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bbclearningenglish.com