UN Claims Immunity in Haitian Cholera Compensation Case

UNITED NATIONS The United Nations has rejected a claim for compensation filed on behalf of 5,000 Haitian victims of a cholera outbreak, saying the world body is protected by immunity. The claim, filed in 2011, sought millions of dollars from the United Nations, saying its peacekeepers brought the deadly disease to Haiti. The water-borne disease had not been documented in Haiti for decades when it appeared several months after the January 2010 earthquake that left thousands of people homeless and living in makeshift camps. Newly arrived U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal were suspected of bringing the disease into the country and spreading it into the water supply through poor sanitation at their camp. Cholera is endemic in Nepal, and the strain responsible for Haiti's epidemic is one that is prevalent throughout South Asia.