Letter to US Secretary of State regarding the United Nation’s Responsibility for Haiti’s Cholera Epidemic

SUMMARY

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the New York City Bar Association urges the U.S. government to call upon the United Nations to “perform its obligations” under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN and provide an appropriate mode for settling claims that UN personnel are responsible for the cholera epidemic in Haiti. It has been alleged that more than 8,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands more have been infected as a result of the epidemic. The letter, signed by City Bar President Carey R. Dunne, disputes the UN’s contention that the claims would necessarily include a “review of political and policy matters” and that accordingly the claims are “not receivable” pursuant to section 29 of the 1946 Convention.