Haitian cholera caused by foreign soldiers

This video says about itself:

27 October 2010

The Nepalese UN mission in Haiti could be the source of the cholera deadly outbreak there. Al Jazeera’s Sebastian Walker reports from Haiti.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Killer cholera came from UN camp – report

Thursday 30 June 2011

The cholera strain that has killed thousands of Haitians in recent months was brought to the country by UN peacekeepers, an international study has concluded.

The report was published in the July issue of US journal Emerging Infectious Diseases and backs up the results of a UN investigation ordered in May which found that the strain originated in south Asia.

“Our findings strongly suggest that contamination of the Artibonite river downstream from a military camp triggered the epidemic,” it said.

There was “an exact correlation of time and place” between the arrival of a battalion from Nepal, which had also experienced a cholera outbreak, and the first reported cases in Haiti.

Poor sanitation at the camp made contamination of the water system possible and Haitians’ dependence on the river system for drinking water ensured that it spread rapidly, the report said.

UN troops are widely blamed in the country for sparking the epidemic and angry demonstrators have demanded their withdrawal.

See also here.

In Haiti, Global Failures on a Cholera Epidemic. Deborah Sontag, The New York Times News Service: “As the deaths and continuing caseload indicate, the world’s response to this preventable, treatable scourge has proved inadequate. Cholera, never before recorded in Haiti, stayed one step ahead of the authorities as they shifted gears from the earthquake recovery. While eventually effective in reducing the fatality rate, the response was slow to get fully under way, conservative and insufficiently sustained”: here.

‘A LABOUR REVOLUTION NEEDED’ – to save Haiti, says ILO leader: here.

Beverly Bell, Other Worlds: “Last week, thousands of farmers and supporters of Haitian peasant agriculture marched for hours under the hot Caribbean sun to call for more government support for locally grown seeds and agriculture. The demonstration was organized by the Peasant Movement of Papay and other farmer associations, human rights and women’s groups, and the Haitian Platform for Alternative Development (PAPDA), the Haitian online agency AlterPresse reported from the march. The official theme of the peaceful demonstration was ‘Land Grabbing is Endangering Agricultural Sovereignty'”: here.

Newly released embassy cables reveal the US government’s interest in maintaining a UN military force for the occupation of Haiti: here.

Report on Haiti @WikiLeaks Cables Expose How US Blocked Aristide’s Return After 2004 Coup: here.

US officials led a far-reaching international campaign aimed at keeping former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide exiled in South Africa, rendering him a virtual prisoner there for the last seven years, according to secret US State Department cables: here.

HAITI: Patchy Healthcare Adds to Miseries of Women and Girls: here.

Haitian women flee to Dominican Republic to give birth: here.

Haiti peacekeepers recalled over abuse claim. Uruguayan naval commander dismissed and five soldiers brought home over alleged sexual assault of young Haitian man: here.

Hundreds of Haitian citizens demonstrated in Port Salut on Monday in support of an 18-year-old man who alleges that he was sexually assaulted by Uruguayan soldiers on a UN base: here.

Imperialist powers prepare to keep UN forces in Haiti: here.

Conditions have become worse for many Haitian women and girls after last year’s earthquake, including access to reproductive health care, says Amanda M. Klasing. Their needs must be considered in every aspect of reconstruction and at each step: here.

Shock-Doctrine Schooling in Haiti: Neoliberalism Off the Richter Scale. Jesse Hagopian, Truthout: “In the earthquake’s aftermath, Haiti’s Education Minister Joel Jean-Pierre declared ‘the total collapse of the Haitian education system.’ The truth, however, is that the seismic activity of free-market principles had shattered the education system in Haiti long before January 12, 2010”: here.

Workers in Haiti’s apparel manufacturing sector accuse factory owners of union busting: here.

Haiti: Seven Places Where Earthquake Money Did and Did Not Go. Bill Quigley and Amber Ramanauskas, Common Dreams: “Less than a month after the quake hit, the US Ambassador Kenneth Merten sent a cable titled ‘THE GOLD RUSH IS ON’ as part of his situation report to Washington. In this February 1, 2010 document, made public by The Nation, Haiti Liberte and Wikileaks, Ambassador Merten reported the President of Haiti met with former General Wesley Clark for a sales presentation for a Miami-based company that builds foam core houses”: here.

Disaster Capitalism: Profiting From Crisis in Post-Earthquake Haiti. Deepa Panchang, Beverly Bell and Tory Field, Other Worlds Are Possible: “Below are a few examples of post-earthquake contracts and grants, selected to show just some of the problems at play. They offer a small glimpse into a much larger, secretive world of disaster deals. We’re grateful to our investigative journalist colleagues who, alongside us, have kept heavy on the scent of these corporations and brought buried information to light”: here.

Two United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti have been sentenced to a year in prison with hard labour after a rare trial found them guilty of sexual abuse and exploitation, a UN spokeswoman revealed on Tuesday: here.

UN PEACEKEEPERS ABANDONED HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti fathered hundreds of children with local women and girls — sometimes through exploitative or violent sex — and then abandoned them, according to a troubling study. [HuffPost]