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U.S. Federal Court of Appeals Upholds United Nations' Immunity in Case Related to Cholera in Haiti

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2017

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Extract

On October 9, 2013, a group of Haitian cholera victims and their survivors sued the United Nations, along with two UN officials and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs alleged that the United Nations had negligently and recklessly allowed peacekeepers from Nepal carrying cholera to enter Haiti in the wake of the 2010 earthquake without reasonable health screenings. The suit further alleged that the United Nations had negligently maintained inadequate sanitation facilities. Finally, the petitioners alleged that the United Nations’ refusal to accept responsibility for the outbreak had exacerbated the epidemic. According to the United Nations, by August 2016, nearly 800,000 people had become infected with cholera, and more than 9,000 had died of cholera.

Type
Case Report
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 111 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 162 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

1 Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian, Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating, 108 AJIL 819, 822 (2014)Google Scholar.

2 Id. at 822.

3 Id.

4 Id. at 823.

5 United Nations, Fact Sheet: Response to Cholera in Haiti, Aug. 2016, at http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/haiti/CholeraFactsheetAug2016.pdf.

6 Daugirdas & Mortenson, supra note 1, at 823–26.

7 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations Art. VIII, sec. 29, Feb. 13, 1946, 1 UNTS 15 (requiring the United Nations to “make provisions for appropriate modes of settlement” of “[d]isputes arising out of contracts or other disputes of a private law character to which the United Nations is a party” and “[d]isputes involving any official of the United Nations who by reason of his official position enjoys immunity, if immunity has not been waived by the Secretary-General”).

8 Daugirdas & Mortenson, supra note 1, at 822, citing Letter from Patricia O'Brien, UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs to Brian Concannon, Attorney for the Haitian Cholera Victims (Feb. 21, 2013), at http://opiniojuris.org/wp-content/uploads/LettertoMr.BrianConcannon.pdf. The UN secretary-general later provided a more expansive analysis in a response to inquiries from four UN special rapporteurs. See Letter from Pedro Medrano, Assistant Secretary-General and Senior Coordinator for Cholera Response, to Leilani Farha, Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, and on the Right to Nondiscrimination in this Context; Gustavo Gallón, Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti; Dainius Pūras, Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health; and Catarina de Albuquerque, Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, paras. 84–98, (Nov. 25, 2014), at https://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/28th/Haiti_ASG_25.11.14_(3.2014).pdf.

9 Georges v. United Nations, 84 F.Supp.3d 246, 248–49 (S.D.N.Y. 2015) (internal citations omitted).

10 Id. at 249–50.

11 Id. at 250.

12 Georges v. United Nations, 834 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 2016).

13 Rick Gladstone, Lawmakers Urge John Kerry to Press U.N. for Haiti Cholera Response, N.Y. Times (June 29, 2016), at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/world/americas/haiti-cholera-john-kerry-congress.html.

14 Office of Congressman John Conyers, Jr. Press Release, Reps. John Conyers and Mia Love Lead Bipartisan Group of More Than 150 Members of Congress in Calling for UN to Take Responsibility for Haiti Cholera Epidemic (June 29, 2016), at https://conyers.house.gov/sites/conyers.house.gov/files/06_29_16%20Kerry%20Haiti%20Cholera%20Letter%20Final.pdf.

15 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Daily Press Briefing (Aug. 3, 2016), at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/08/260813.htm.

16 Jonathan M. Katz, U.N. Admits Role in Cholera Epidemic in Haiti, N.Y. Times (Aug. 17, 2016), at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/americas/united-nations-haiti-cholera.html.

17 Philip Alston's Draft Report on the U.N. and the Haiti Cholera Outbreak, N.Y. Times (Aug. 19, 2016), at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/19/magazine/document-Alston-Haiti-Cholera-Report.html. For the final published version of the report, see Philip Alston (Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights), Rep. of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights in Accordance with Human Rights Council Res. 26/3, UN Doc. A/71/40823 (Aug. 26, 2016).

18 Katz, supra note 16.

19 Id.

20 Id.

21 Georges, 834 F.3d 88; see also Jonathan M. Katz, U.S. Court Upholds United Nations’ Immunity in Cholera Suit, N.Y. Times (Aug. 18, 2016), at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/world/americas/united-nations-cholera-haiti.html.

22 Georges, 834 F.3d at 93–94 (internal citations omitted).

23 Id. at 97 (internal citations omitted).

24 Id. at 98.

25 Id. (internal citations omitted).

26 Secretary-General Press Statement, Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary General on Haiti (Aug. 19, 2016), at https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2016-08-19/statement-attributable-spokesman-secretary-general-haiti.

27 UN Deputy Chief Briefs Member States on New UN Approaches to Cholera Outbreak in Haiti, UN News Centre (Oct. 14, 2016), at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=55307#.WBQdLHiCwUV.

28 Id.

29 Id.

30 Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has not publicly commented on the United Nations’ role in the cholera crisis in Haiti. In March 2014, she posted a comment on Twitter: “More needed to combat cholera: Countries need to expand support for #Haiti's efforts to treat those with cholera & improve sanitation.” See Samantha Power (@Ambassador Power), Twitter (Mar. 24, 2014), at https://twitter.com/AmbassadorPower/status/448238784916643840.

31 Statement by Professor Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, UN Responsibility for the Introduction of Cholera into Haiti, 71st Sess. of the General Assembly, Third Committee, Item 68 (b&c) (Oct. 25, 2016), at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20794&LangID=E.

32 [Editors’ note: In July 2014, the secretary-general stated his belief that “the international community, including the United Nations, has a moral responsibility to help the Haitian people stem the further spread of the cholera epidemic.” He did not address the legal implications of this statement. Daugirdas & Mortenson, supra note 1, at 826.]

33 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Daily Press Briefing (Oct. 27, 2016), at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/10/263730.htm#HAITI.

34 UN Secretary-General, Secretary-General's Remarks to the General Assembly on a New Approach to Address Cholera in Haiti (Dec. 1, 2016), at https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2016-12-01/secretary-generals-remarks-general-assembly-new-approach-address; see also UN Secretary-General, A New Approach to Cholera in Haiti, U.N. Doc. A/71/620 (Nov. 25, 2016).

35 Id.

36 United Nations, Ambassador Isobel Coleman, U.S. Representative to the UN for UN Management and Reform, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Remarks at an Informal Briefing by the Secretary-General on the United Nations’ New Approach to Cholera in Haiti (Dec. 1, 2016), at https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7582.