2nd LD Writethru: UN has "moral responsibility" to victims of cholera epidemic in Haiti, Ban says

The United Nations has "a moral responsibility to the victims of the cholera epidemic" and for supporting Haiti in overcoming the epidemic and building sound water, sanitation and health systems, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Friday.

The statement was prompted by a decision handed down Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York which upheld a lower court's decision the United Nations cannot be sued in U.S. courts. However, the decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A class action suit was brought on behalf of victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti contending UN peacekeeping forces from Nepal brought the disease to the island nation following a massive earthquake in January 2010, which killed more than 220,000 people and displaced 1.5 million. There had been an outbreak of cholera in Nepal.

The secretary-general noted the decision "upheld the immunity of the Organization from legal proceedings ... in accordance with the UN Charter and other international treaties," Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman, said while reading a prepared statement.

"The secretary-general deeply regrets the terrible suffering the people of Haiti have endured as a result of the cholera epidemic," the statement said.

The secretary-general noted there has been a 90 percent reduction in the number of cholera cases in Haiti since the peak of the outbreak in 2011 because of "sustained efforts by national authorities and the international community," the statement said.

But he said repeated appeals to the international community have left the effort "seriously underfunded."

"The secretary-general urges member states to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Haiti by increasing their contributions to eliminate cholera and provide assistance to those affected," the statement said.

"The secretary-general is actively working to develop a package that would provide material assistance and support to those Haitians most directly affected by cholera," the statement said. "These efforts must include, as a central focus, the victims of the disease and their families."

"The United Nations also intends to intensify its support to reduce, and ultimately end, the transmission of cholera, improve access to care and treatment and address the longer-term issues of water, sanitation and health systems in Haiti," said the statement.

A day before the U.S. court's decision in the suit, Haq said, "The UN's been heavily engaged in cholera eradication since the 2010 outbreak, but over the past year, the UN has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera."

"A series of options have been under consideration," Haq said Thursday.

He called a draft report and its recommendations from a human rights rapporteur recently received "a valuable contribution to the UN as we work towards a significantly new set of UN actions. The new response will be presented publicly within the next two months once it has been fully elaborated, agreed with the Haitian authorities and discussed with member states."

Haq said the United Nations had "tried a number of things" to battle cholera in Haiti. "We keep trying to figure out how to go about the right way of resolving this. And that's what we've been doing in these last months, as well," he said.

"I think it speaks to the attention that the secretary-general's paid that, one way or another, over the last six years, we have continually reviewed what we've been doing to make sure that we can be doing the right thing, and that's what's going on right now," he said. Endit