By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 19 -- On World Toilet Day, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson about sanitation in Haiti, where UN Peacekeeping is accused of negligently bringing cholera.
Eliasson talks about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visit to Haiti and work with the government. He thanked Inner City Press for not asking (directly) about the legal issues. As former UN official Stephen Lewis has publicly said, it appears that UN officials have been told to refer questions about Haiti and cholera, at least legal ones, to the Executive Office of the Secretary General. Click here for that.
Singapore's Permanent Representative Karen Tan, when Inner City Press asked of the place of toilets in the Post-2015 development agenda, pointed to Sustainable Development Goal 6, specifically 6.2 with its direct reference to ending open defecation.
Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and Chair of UN-Water,spoke of public - private partnerships. Unilever was praised, leading some to wonder if this might be Blue-washing the toilet. We'll have more on this.
