We simply did not do enough with regard to the cholera outbreak and spread in Haiti. For the past six years it had doggedly refused to address the issue of how its own peacekeepers brought the deadly cholera bacterium with them when they were supposed to be coming to the help of the stricken people of Haiti. “The determination not to accept legal responsibility entrenches a scandalous legal maneuver designed to sidestep the UN’s legal obligations,” he said. The key countries impacted by the cholera epidemic, which has spread around the Caribbean, showed a similar mix of emotions in response to Ban’s “apology”. Courtenay Rattray, UN representative for Jamaica which suffered a knock-on cholera epidemic that spread from Haiti, said that Ban’s address acknowledged “the gross injustice that has been visited on the people of Haiti and the moral responsibility harbored by the UN”.

Source: The Guardian December 01, 2016 16:14 UTC