On International Human Rights Day Haitians Demand Justice from the UN

By Etant Dupain

Haitians celebrated the United Nations International Day for Human Rights by asking the UN for justice and reparations for cholera.

More than 1,500 cholera survivors demonstrated in St. Marc in front of the MINUSTAH (UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti) base in the neighborhood of Pivert on Friday, December 9 to commemorate International Human Rights Day.

The majority of participants in the demonstration may have survived cholera, but they lost members of their family to the sickness and many of them are part of the 5,000 cholera victims who filed a complaint against the MINUSTAH on November 3, 2011.

Five weeks after the victims of cholera brought their complaint to the UN demanding justice and reparations, they declared a national mobilization to force the United Nations to take responsibility for cholera that has already killed 6,500 people and infected more than half a million.

Organizations that defend human rights and the Collective for Reparations for the Victims of Cholera have denounced how the United Nations have disbursed less than 2% of their budget to help victims of cholera, despite the fact that all the evidence points to MINUSTAH for bringing cholera to Haiti.

At the demonstration, Jocelyne Pierre carried a sign that said, “Haitians have rights, too.” She declared that the UN Mission in Haiti is a source of shame for the UN because it has caused the country more harm than good.

Several dozen victims shared their experience during the demonstration about how they became sick with cholera and how they lives changed after. Many of the survivors expressed their frustration about the presence of UN peacekeeping soldiers in Haiti, and they asked for justice and reparations for all the victims of cholera based on the internal principles of the UN of which Haiti is a member.

Yves Pierre Louis is an activist who participated in the demonstration. He declared it is a contradiction for the UN to celebrate their International Day for Human Rights while members of the mission are violating human rights in Haiti.

Nearly fourteen months have passed since cholera first appeared in the country and the UN has refused to accept all the expert evidence that clearly proves it was members of the mission that carried cholera into Haiti. During the protest, demonstrators planned a meeting for the coming week to plan further demonstrations throughout the country.