By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 26 -- On a day of protest outside the UN General Assembly for the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and killed over 8,200 people, inside Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky to respond to the protests.
Nesirky repeated the UN's line that the claims are "not receivable," but then added that the UN is nevertheless trying to raise funds for, for example, water and sanitation projects.
The protesters are also speaking about reparations -- that is, accountability -- and are not convinced by what the UN has said and done to date.
In fact, the UN's most recent report on cholera doesn't address who brought the cholera there. Meanwhile the UN demands that its report for example on chemical weapons in Syria be treated seriously, as "overwhelming" and impartial.
The UN's actions in Haiti, like for example in Sri Lanka and the Eastern Congo, have undermined the UN's credibility on the issues that Ban says are most important, like Syria.
There is also now the matter of the Sri Lankan soldier charged with rape in Haiti: where is he? What will be done?
Inner City Press asked Nesirky in which of Ban Ki-moon's many bilateral meeting he had raised the need to respond to cholera in Haiti. Nesirky said it is being raised. We'll continue to review the read-outs provided of the meetings -- while the protests continue, and grow. The next step, it seems, must be litigation. Watch this site.
