The Haiti Cholera Case and UN’s Immunity From Civil Jurisdiction: Nothing New Under the Sun

The opinion rendered by the US District Court SDNY in the Haiti cholera case will likely put back at the centre of the debate the question of the immunity of the United Nations, and more generally of IOs. Relying on a well-established case law favourable to the recognition of immunity, the Court found that the immunity enjoyed by the Organization is absolute, in absence of an express waiver. It appears that no consideration of the right of access to justice or of the obligation to provide alternative remedies to the plaintiffs have guided Court in deciding the case. From this starting point, this article analyses the obligation of the UN to establish alternative means of redress pursuant to section 29 of the CPIUN and its relation with the fundamental right to a judge. Moreover, in light of the European practice and case law, which admits that the conflict between immunity and the right of access to a court should be solved by balancing the underlying values, it also argues the possibility of the emergence of a double regime of immunity for the UN and for other IOs.