Recent Posts

The UN Haiti Cholera Dispute – Public or Private Law Claim Under Section 29?

Kristen asks in her post below whether anyone has a view on whether the UN’s assertion that the cholera epidemic claims in Haiti constitute a public law claim, and hence not within the purview of Section 29 of the UN Convention on Privileges and Immunities is supported by  law or past practice?  I don't have a view, or any genuinely legal materials to raise, but curiously I encountered the issue in passing, in practice as general counsel for an NGO during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.  Circumstances were unique, and for various reasons my client organization decided not to pursue it as a matter of research or dispute, but Section 29 specifically came up as a comment from UN officials I was negotiating with at the time. At the time of the Dayton Accords, the agreement and all the parties - not just signers of the Accords but states, the UN, various other international bodies - agreed there needed to be a TV and radio network reestablished across Bosnia that would broadcast in all languages, provide neutral news reporting, etc., in the run-up to the elections.  But broadcast towers and all that had been destroyed, so the physical infrastructure needed to be put in place very quickly.  The states involved, and some organs of the UN - I'm sure I'm not remembering the details correctly - agreed in principle to fund this, but expressed concern that they could not get the funds flowing quickly enough to meet the deadlines.  So my organization was invited to consider whether it would front the funds, pay for the work, hire the consultants and contractors, and see that the work was completed in time.