UN Admits Role in Deadly Haiti Cholera Outbreak
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The United Nations acknowledged that it played a role in the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 10,000 Haitians and infected over 770,000.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, promised a "significant new set of UN actions" to respond to the epidemic, following a confidential report sent to the UN chief that was critical of the world body's actions.
Draft language of the report, prepared by New York University law professor Philip Alston, who serves as a special rapporteur advising the UN on human rights issues, said the crisis "would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations," according to the New York Times.
"This is a major victory for the thousands of Haitians who have been marching for justice, writing to the UN and bringing the UN to court," said Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights lawyer representing victims of the epidemic.
Already one of the world's poorest countries, Haiti was reeling from a devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010 that killed more than 200,000 people when its misery was compounded by the cholera outbreak, Al Jazeera reported.
The epidemic broke out near a base housing hundreds of Nepali peacekeepers.
According to UN figures, more than 770,000 Haitians have since been infected by the disease and nearly 10,000 have died from it since it broke out across the island nation 2010.
