UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has apologised for the first time to the
people of Haiti for the international organisation’s role in a deadly
cholera outbreak that has killed more than 9,300 people and infected
over 800,000.
“On behalf of the United Nations, I want
to say very clearly we apologise to the Haitian people,” he said three
times, in Haitian Creole, French and English, to the UN General Assembly
on Thursday.
“We simply did not do enough with
regards to the cholera outbreak and its spread in Haiti … We are
profoundly sorry for our role,” Ban said.
According to numerous independent
experts, cholera was introduced to Haiti by infected Nepalese UN
peacekeepers sent to the Caribbean country after the massive 2010
earthquake.
Cholera, a disease that is transmitted
through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhea, is a
major challenge in a country with poor sanitary conditions.
The UN reiterated its rejection of claims that it is also legally responsible for the damages from the health emergency.
“We do not change our basic legal position,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told reporters on Thursday.
The UN chief also formally presented the
193-nation General Assembly with a “new approach,” a two-pronged
programme to help the families of the cholera victims and support the
battle against the disease.
The UN hopes the new proposal will raise
$400m over two years, but funding for prior UN assistance to Haiti has
been slow to arrive.
Read More: aljazeera
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