Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Catholic News ServiceMarch 06, 2013

The United Nations has taken the rare step of invoking its legal immunity to rebuff claims for compensation from victims of the cholera epidemic in Haiti, the worst outbreak of the disease in modern times. Citing a convention laid down in 1946 that offers immunity from such legal claims, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, telephoned President Michel Martelly of Haiti on Feb. 21 to tell him that the United Nations was not willing to compensate any of the claimants. The epidemic has killed almost 8,000 people and stricken hundreds of thousands more—about one out of every 16 Haitians. The infection is thought to have been carried into Haiti by U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal sent to help with disaster relief following the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Ban’s spokesperson issued a carefully worded statement that pointedly did not accept or deny liability for the epidemic but made clear that the United Nations would not accept the compensation claims.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Our country is not only in a constitutional crisis; we are in a biblical crisis.
Terence SweeneyMay 21, 2025
A Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinMay 21, 2025
Pope Leo XIV meets with Vice President JD Vance after the formal inauguration of his pontificate at the Vatican on May 18. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo I helped to ensure that Catholicism would outlast the Roman Empire. His name is a reminder that our faith rises above contemporary politics and temporal authority.
The Gospel parable of the “wasteful sower” who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path “is an image of the way God loves us,” Pope Leo XIV told 40,000 visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience.
Cindy Wooden May 21, 2025