Posted on 09/21/2019 10:51:58 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
As world leaders descend on New York for this year’s U.N. General Assembly, the immunity enjoyed by the organization is being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Following a devastating earthquake in 2010, Nepalese peacekeepers sent to help instead brought Cholera to Haiti – a disease unknown to the country at the time. Waste from the peacekeepers' HQ leaked into the local river and ended up being responsible for ten thousand deaths, with hundreds of thousands contacting it.
"My father and stepmother both died because the U.N. brought cholera to Haiti.” Mary Laventure, the lead plaintiff in the case told Fox News in an email.
Laventure wants her day in court.
“Many other Haitians, including Haitian Americans, died as well. This may be the last chance for justice for those hurt by the U.N.'s actions. The U.N. must be held responsible so they know there are consequences for the damage they cause in places like Haiti,” she said.
The plaintiffs are hoping the justices will hear their case when they start their next session in October.
Edward Flaherty, a Geneva-based lawyer who filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of Swiss NGO, Hear Their Cries, told Fox News that if the case is accepted for review, it “will allow the Court to finally examine the constitutionality of UN immunity.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Why litigate Hatian cholera in a US court?
It is. The U.S. signed, and the Senate ratified, a treaty giving the U.N. diplomatic immunity in U.S. courts.
VERY NICE.
Thank You
Diplomatic immunity has existed literally for thousands of years. How could any country send an ambassador to negotiate with a potentially hostile country if they had to worry that their ambassador would be arrested on trumped-up charges?
No, SCOTUS has been asked to rule on this case. They won't take it.
I also don’t see why the U.S. Supreme Court would be involved with a case between the U.N. and Haitians. That being said, diplomatic immunity and status of forces agreements are essential between countries sending diplomats or military forces into other countries. It’s impossible for a diplomat or military member to do their jobs if they’re not protected from harassment by the host nation, most other nations don’t have U.S. standards of due process and fear of arbitrary arrest would make their work impossible. Imagine how the current U.S. presence in Afghanistan would work if local tribal leaders could arrest U.S. soldiers for seeing a woman without her head covered during a raid on a suspected terrorist’s house.
I also have a hard time believing anyone could bring a disease to a pigsty like Haiti that isn’t already there in spades.
To prevent diplomats being taken hostage in the event of hostilities initially. Now, of course, diplomats use it to get away with crimes.
A lethal weapon movie I believe.
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