Life
UN rejects Haiti cholera damages claim
“This extreme interpretation of immunity is depriving our clients of any remedies for wrongs committed,” Concannon added.
He said the institute would now file a case calling on a court to refuse to back the use of the 1946 convention on the U.N.’s privileges and immunities as the global body had not provided an alternative path to seek compensation.
The action could be filed in Haiti, New York or a court in a European country such as Belgium or the Netherlands, he said.
Each one has advantages and disadvantages and we are not ready to make a decision yet,” Concannon declared.
“Nine hundred people have died in the last year and the death rates for December and January were higher than for the previous December and January,” the lawyer said.
“There is a sense of urgency and the legal liability of the UN is going to keep climbing because more people are getting sick, more are dying and they are refusing to respond. We are going to keep fighting as long as we have to,” Concannon said.
Cholera, which causes potentially deadly diarrhea, is spread by ingesting food or water contaminated with a bacterium carried in human feces and spread through poor sanitation.
Copyright 2013 AFP
