U.N. Must Be Held Accountable For Cholera In Haiti

Wall Street Journal: The U.N., Cholera and Responsibility
Stanley Alpert, an attorney representing Haitian plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the U.N.

“Imagine if the United Nations killed thousands on the streets of New York. Or London. Or Paris. And sickened nearly a million more. Would the U.N. claim it was not liable? Of course not. The international community wouldn’t allow it. Yet that is exactly what is happening in Haiti, where the U.N. claims it is immune from lawsuits over its reckless spread of cholera that has killed 8,000 people so far, and sickened more than 800,000. … It is time for justice to be done for the people of Haiti. We have clients who wish to pay funeral expenses and otherwise use modest settlements to recover from devastating family losses. It is the least the United Nations can do. And if it won’t accept such responsibility, we are confident that U.S. courts have both the jurisdiction and the legal grounds to force the U.N. into action” (4/15).

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