UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Indicates Compensation Package for Haitian Victims of Cholera Outbreak is Forthcoming (September 20, 2016) [1]
On September 20, 2016, outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered an address [3] to the UN General Assembly touching on a number of matters, including a commitment to provide a compensation package for the victims of the Haitian cholera outbreak tied to the UN’s actions there. According to commentary [4] on the developments, this pledge is an about-face from the UN’s previous stance of refusing to provide compensation to the victims. Commentators have attributed the UN’s shift in policy to a report [5] by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and possibly a recent decision [6] by the U.S.Second Circuit Court of Appeals on the UN’s liability in the matter that was still pending at the time the Secretary General spoke. The UN is not accepting liability for the matter, and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit still have three months to appeal the ruling—which held that the UN was immune from liability resulting from the outbreak—to the U.S. Supreme Court.