Group gives UN ultimatum
Published:Thursday | May 9, 2013 | 12:30 PM
A United States-based human rights group has given the United Nations 60 days to reach a compensation deal or face a legal lawsuit from victims of Haiti's cholera epidemic.
The United Nations has already indicated it is legally immune from legal action over the epidemic that afflicted some half a million people.
However, the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti says it’s ready to open legal proceedings in New York with claims totalling billions of dollars unless the United Nations adheres to the deadline.
The group has blamed UN peacekeepers for introducing the disease into the French-speaking Caribbean CARICOM country that killed more than 8,000 people and left hundreds sick.
The human rights group also wants the UN to apologise to Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere for introducing the disease and launch a major effort to improve sanitation.
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