While the UN protests the criminal impunity of Jean-Claude Duvalier for human rights crimes during his dictatorship, they deny their own liability, invoke immunity from prosecution, & refuse the millions of dollars in compensation to victims of the cholera epidemic caused by UN occupying soldiers. So far, 8,205 Haitians have died & 650,000 have suffered illness. Overwhelming scientific testimony, including the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), & a panel commissioned by the UN itself, determined beyond dispute that UN soldiers from Nepal unwittingly introduced cholera contamination to the water supply by unsanitary practices at a UN military base, including spillover of fecal sludge into a nearby stream which fed the Artibonite River Haitians used for bathing & drinking.
Haitian political activists & many others consider the presence of UN troops an illegal occupation to begin with. Once again, Haitians are not sitting like bumps on a log; 5,000 claimants from the families of cholera victims are taking the UN to court. We wish them every success in what is bound to be a difficult quest for justice.
There are many gruesome photos from the cholera epidemic--particularly of children suffering unspeakably. It seems more respectful to post this photo of Haitians surrounding a UN vehicle in protest & to demand justice for the cholera victims (in July 2011).
(Photo by Swoan Parker/Reuters)
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