International responsibility of international organisations for non-compliance with their obligations – A case-study on the role of the UN in the 2010s cholera outbreak in Haiti
Keywords:
International responsibility; international organisations; United Nations; sanitary crises; human rights; immunity.Abstract
The international responsibility of international organisations concerning sanitary crises is a relatively new and very complex subject. In the context of epidemics and pandemics, it is especially difficult to assess the two preconditions for the international responsibility of international organisations: attribution of conduct to the organisation and that the conduct constitutes the breach of an obligation under international law.
As the World Health Organization is criticised for allegedly failing to comply with its mandate/obligations with regards to its response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, this paper revisits a high-profile profile precedent where the role of an international organisation in spreading (or failing to prevent the spread of) an infectious disease was raised – that of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a peacekeeping operation that became associated with having introduced cholera in Haiti in October 2010.
The vastly debated and well-documented role of the United Nations in the 2010s cholera outbreak in Haiti offers a good case-study on the international responsibility of international organisations for non-compliance with their obligations, including with regards to preventing and mitigating the spread of communicable diseases.
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