Over 8,000 people in Haiti have died from a cholera outbreak directly connected to UN Forces in the nation but their claim for compensation has been denied by the world body.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the UN cannot be held responsible for causing the epidemic due to the UN’s Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN. The outbreak has been traced to leaking sewage pipes from a UN base.

Over 600,000 people have been infected by the outbreak. Despite the evidence linking the outbreak to the UN base, the world body refuses to accept responsibility for being the cause. Peacekeepers from Nepal were infected with the disease before coming to work in the aftermath of a hurricane.

The UN launched a $2 billion appeal to fight the epidemic which they called the worst current outbreak in the world. Cholera is spread through infected feces and once in the water system is extremely difficult to eliminate. Haiti has almost no effective sewage systems meaning that sewage often enters the drinking water supplies.