The United Nations on Thursday rejected a compensation claim
from Haiti for its cholera victims, who currently number in the
600,000-range, including around 8,000 deaths. In a statement to
reporters, Martin Nesirky, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s
spokesman, said that the claim was “not receivable” under terms
of a 1946 convention which laid out the UN's immunity for its
actions. The epidemic, which is the worst in modern history,
broke out after the January 2010 earthquake in the poorest
country in the western hemisphere. It is thought that the UN
itself unwittingly introduced the disease through leaking sewage
pipes in one of its buildings, the BBC said. The UN has refused
to accept responsibility, saying that the source of the outbreak
is unidentifiable. Lawyers for some of the victims said that the
claim would have cost the UN more than $1 billion in damages, Al
Jazeera reported. The UN also said that they would continue
their rebuilding efforts in Haiti. "The Secretary-General again
expresses his prof