Fight The Outbreak: Holding The UN Accountable For Cholera in Haiti

CHALLENGE

To push for the UN to accept responsibility for introducing Cholera to Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, and show, using victims stories, the need for reparations and UN accountability to change their testing systems for deploying peacekeepers, and change latrine output, so that such a tragedy would be prevented in the future

Solution

To support the legal case against the UN, Variant’s founder, Abby Goldberg, in collaboration with the New Media Advocacy Project, created two videos, one to be used in in person presentations at the UN and other decision-making bodies, and the other video (in five languages) to be used to mobilize citizens to push for UN accountability.

We interviewed doctors, lawyers, experts and most importantly victims to show the devastation caused by the Cholera outbreak, to raise awareness about the fact that it was the UN that introduced Cholera to Haiti, and to demonstrate the need to pay for damages incurred by victims so that they could rebuild their lives.

The 6 minute video was used in dozens of meetings with UN officers and legislators in the U.S. and also used to inform mass media, including the New York Times, who published a full page story informing the public of the UN’s negligence and responsibility for the Cholera outbreak. The 1 minute video is available in 5 languages targeting civil society in the primary peacekeeping donor countries to Haiti, which sought to pressure the UN to respond. 

OVERVIEW

In 2010, the UN introduced Cholera to Haiti, already devastated by the tragic 2010 earthquake that killed over 300,000 people. A report was authored by scientists, doctors, academics and other experts after the Cholera Outbreak that traced the introduction of Cholera to Haiti to a group of Nepalese Peacekeepers who came from a Cholera endemic region and were deployed without adequate testing. Furthermore, during their stay in Haiti, they emptied letrines from their camp into the largest river in Haiti, which provides food for over 80% of the country, causing the rapid spread of the disease. At the time the films were made, over 500,000 people had been infected and 7000 people had perished. Lives and livelihoods were destroyed. Haiti and its victims were desperate and needed the UN’s help to reverse the damage and help them build back their lives.

Impact

The video campaign was ultimately part of the success of the UN accepting responsibility for bringing Cholera to Haiti through peacekeepers coming from countries where Cholera is endemic, and through negligible disposal of waste in the main river in Haiti. The videos were directly responsible for a full page New York Times article about UN responsibility. The case was an impossible success: no-one believed the UN would ever take responsibility for Cholera in Haiti, much less change it’s protocols for peacekeepers worldwide, and call on reparations for Member States. The lawyers who brought the case said that success was made possible by our videos.

Created with the New Media Advocacy Project. The 6-minute video is available in Haitian Creole and English. The 1 minute video is available in English, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, French and Spanish.

SELECTED PRESS COVERAGE

NPR, New York Times, Huffington Post, Haiti Liberte, Article3Advisors, US Human Rights Network, Global Policy Forum, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

This project was co-produced and co-directed by Abby Goldberg in collaboration with New Media Advocacy Project, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and Partners in Health