Unease over #UN bid to eradicate #Haiti #cholera - Al Jazeera Blogs
►http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/unease-over-un-bid-eradicate-haiti-cholera
The UN has launched a new initiative aimed at tackling cholera in Haiti. But the programme falls short of what many had hoped for.
The new programme dedicates $215m from donors along with $23.5m from UN funds towards programmes in public health, capacity building, public education, and clean water systems. It will be part of a larger ten-year $2.2bn programme between Haiti and the neighbouring Dominican Republic to eradicate cholera from the island of Hispaniola.
“We know the elimination of cholera is possible,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
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some UN observers fear that the plan will deflect international pressure on the UN to take responsibility for introducing the deadly disease.
Numerous studies - including internal investigations by the UN itself - indicate that cholera was brought in by Nepalese peacekeeping troops. Yet the international body has yet to formally take the blame.
“A just response requires allowing past victims of the UN cholera and their survivors their day in court, to seek justice for their loss of loved ones, income, property and educational opportunities,” said Brian Concannon, Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, which has launched a lawsuit against the UN on behalf of the families of 5,000 cholera victims.
More than 6,700 people have signed an online petition launched last week by filmmaker Oliver Stone, calling for the UN to take responsibility.