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
Palabras clave:
International responsibility; international organisations; United Nations; sanitary crises; human rights; immunity.Resumen
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.
Citas
AMERASINGHE, C.F., “An Assessment of the ILC’s Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations”, in RAGAZZI, Maurizio, Responsibility of International Organizations: Essays in Memory of Sir Ian Brownlie, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2013, pages 71-78.
BHAT, Neha, "Responsibility in the Time of Cholera: Liability of International Organisations for Wrongful Conduct". Available at SSRN: <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2213613> (last access December 12, 2020).
BURCI, Gian Luca and FEINÄUGLE, Clemens, "The ILC’s Articles Seen from a WHO Perspective", in RAGAZZI, Maurizio, Responsibility of International Organizations: Essays in Memory of Sir Ian Brownlie, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2013, pages 177-188.
CRAVIOTO, Alejandro et al., Final Report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti, May 2011. Available at IJDH: <https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Full_Report_525.pdf> (last access December 12, 2020).
DAUGIRDAS, Kristina, "Reputation and the Responsibility of International Organizations", European Journal of International Law, Volume 25, No. 4, 2014, pages 991-1018.
GARCIN, Melina, "The Haitian Cholera Victims’ Complaints Against the United Nations", Zeitschrift für ausländisches öfentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Heidelberg Journal of International Law), Vol. 75, Issue 3, pages 672-705.
HOLLENBERG, Stephan, “Immunity of the UN in the Case of Haitian Cholera Victims”, Journal of International Peacekeeping, No. 19, 2015, pages 118-141.
INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION, “Draft articles on the responsibility of international organizations, with commentaries”, Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 2011, Vol. II, Part Two, Chapter V, pages 39-105.
KAMEN, Justin, "Prosecuting the Pandemic: Strengthening International Public Health Law", Eyes on the ICC, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2008-2009, pages 159-184.
MEISTERHANS, Nadja, “The World Health Organization in Crisis – Lessons to be Learned Beyond the Ebola Outbreak”, The Chinese Journal of Global Governance, No. 2, 2016, pages 1-29.
MÉGRET, Frédéric, "Responsabilité des Nations Unies Aux Temps du Choléra", Revue Belge de Droit International, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2013, pages 161-189, Éditions Bruylant, Brussells.
PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION (PAHO), "Haiti reaches one-year free of Cholera", Press Release of January 23, 2020. Available at<https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15684:haiti-reaches-one-year-free-of-cholera&Itemid=1926&lang=en> (last accessed December 12, 2020).
ONZIVU, William, "(Re)Invigorating the World Health Organization's Governance of Health Rights: Repositing an Evolving Legal mandate, Challenges and Prospects", African Journal of Legal Studies, No. 4, 2011, pages 225-256.
SPAGNOLO, Andrea, "(Non) Compliance with the International Health Regulations of the WHO from the Perspective of the Law of International Responsibility", Global Jurist, Vol 1, Issue 1, 2018, 20170025, pages 1-18.
TAYLOR, Kate Nancy, "Shifting Demands in International Institutional Law: Securing the United Nations’ Accountability for the Haitian Cholera Outbreak", Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, 2014, pages 157-195.
Descargas
Publicado
Cómo citar
Número
Sección
Licencia
Authors who published in the journal agree to the following terms:
- The Authors grant the Journal the right of first publication, and other non-exclusive publishing rights, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows the sharing of work with recognition of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to take on additional contracts separately, non-exclusive distribution of the version of the paper published in this journal (ex .: publish in an institutional repository or as a chapter in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post and distribute their work online (eg .: in institutional repositories or on their website) at any point before or during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as increase the impact and the citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
RJP does not apply submission, publication or any other fees of any nature. Its articles are open access, with the goal of disseminating scientific knowledge and the debate of legal topics in the area of Legal Sciences.