In January 2025, the U.S. announced its plan to leave the WHO. During the yearlong process, the U.S. stopped funding, withdrew all personnel from the WHO, and began pivoting activities previously conducted with the organization to direct bilateral engagements with other countries and organizations. On January 22, 2026, the U.S. completed of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

Yet, according to a joint statement by U.S. Secretary of State Rubio and Secretary of Health Kennedy, “even on our way out of the organization, the WHO tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it. The WHO refuses to hand over the American flag that hung in front of it, arguing it has not approved our withdrawal and, in fact, claims that we owe it compensation. From our days as its primary founder, primary financial backer, and primary champion until now, our final day, the insults to America continue.”

Rubio and Kennedy pledged that “we will get our flag back for the Americans who died alone in nursing homes, the small businesses devastated by WHO-driven restrictions, and the American lives shattered by this organization’s inactivity. Our withdrawal is for them.”

Four days later, the U.S. Mission in Geneva announced that the marines had secured the U.S. flag, “dedicated to the American lives lost during COVID.”

Nevertheless, the WHO Executive Board is still debating whether the U.S. has their approval to withdraw, without first paying $130 million that the UN agency claims America still owes them.

U.S MARINES SECURE FLAG DETAINED BY WHO: The World Health Organization refused to return the American flag that hung in front of it, saying it has not approved the U.S. withdrawal from the agency—and that 🇺🇸 owes them compensation. Good news: the U.S. Marines now have the flag. pic.twitter.com/VnvwnEzZYW

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 5, 2026

The post UN’s World Health Organization Held U.S. Flag Hostage appeared first on UN Watch.

The initial 4-page draft resolution, written by the Palestinians and Syria, and submitted to the 77th World Heath Assembly by Iran, Syria, China, Russia, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Qatar and others, accused Israel of “using starvation as a weapon of war,” “wanton destruction of the Palestinian health system,” and causing “forcibly internally displaced civilians.”

All of this was withdrawn by the Arab states, however, after Israel successfully amended the text to introduce a single sentence that “Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza, including children, women and older persons, and condemns the use, by armed groups, of health facilities, including hospitals and ambulances, that endangers the civilian population.”

The Israeli-backed amendment was adopted by a vote of 50 to 44, with 31 abstentions. All Western democracies voted in support — except for Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Slovenia, which abstained. See full vote below.

Egypt then took the floor on behalf of the Arab Group to withdraw the entire resolution, in opposition to the amendment that called for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza.

“In light of the results of this vote, the Arab Group would like to express its sadness. It regrets the politicized and biased nature of the amendment made to a draft decision which is of a technical and procedural nature,” said the Egyptian delegate.

“This amendment seeks to justify targeting health facilities and putting the lives of citizens in danger. It also targets health facilities. In light of this result, we would like to say that the Arab Group regretfully decides to withdraw the draft decision and would like to put on the international community the responsibility for this failure in adopting a draft decision which is of a technical and procedural nature in order to help the Palestinians at a time when they are subjected to a systematic bombing and shelling of health facilities while the international community turns a blind eye.

Debate on the agenda item targeting Israel has been suspended until Friday, May 31st. 

Voting Results on Amendment Calling for Release of Israeli Hostages in Gaza:

YES (50)

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Ukraine, Uruguay, United States

NO (44)

Algeria, Angola, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, China, Colombia, Cuba, Djibouti, North Korea, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, Gambia 

ABSTAINED (31)

Armenia, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Botswana, Chile, Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea, Ireland, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Peru, Slovenia, Tanzania, Thailand, Vanuatu, Zimbabwe

The draft decision titled “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan” has been passed at the World Health Assembly every year since 1968 and was the only recurring resolution adopted by the assembly condemning a single country until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The post Arab states pull WHO resolution condemning Israel after amendment calling for release of hostages appeared first on UN Watch.

At the annual gathering of WHO member states, which ended on May 30, Kim Jong Un’s North Korea won a seat on the WHO Executive Board, on a slate with nine other countries.

“What this means is that one of the world’s most horrific regimes is now a part of a group that sets and enforces the standards and norms for the global governance of health care. It is an absurd episode for a key U.N. agency that is in much need of self-reflection and reform,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group in Geneva.

“A seat on the executive board provides North Korea with a vote on the appointment of the WHO’s six regional directors, and potentially on an eventual replacement for Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general now serving his second and final term.

North Korea was elected in a slate with the other nominees by a secret ballot: 123 nations voting yes, 13 abstentions and 6 spoiled ballots; 35 countries were absent. Normally the elections are by consensus, but Russia challenged Ukraine’s nomination, and so a vote was held.

“The right signal from the U.N. to the North Korean regime would be an overdue referral to the International Criminal Court, and a call to investigate and prosecute Kim Jon Un’s heinous crimes against humanity — not an election to an organization that sets the standards for global health,” said Neuer.

Other countries joining the executive board are Australia, Barbados, Cameroon, Comoros, Lesotho, Qatar, Switzerland, Togo and Ukraine.

Neuer added that North Korea will remain part of the WHO’s executive board for at least the next three years, allowing current supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un to influence the WHO’s agency, policies and appointments.

What happened at the @WHO's 76th assembly:
🇹🇼 Taiwan, a leader on public health, barred entryhttps://t.co/SLoGO2ADPl
🇮🇱 Israel, a biotech innovator, singled out for censurehttps://t.co/6kRozE4uHK
🇰🇵 North Korea elected to WHO leadership role https://t.co/SV4AS1P1eB https://t.co/94Neweh5Up pic.twitter.com/hU8kkI7FA2

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 31, 2023

The post North Korea Wins Leading Role at World Health Organization appeared first on UN Watch.

Deviating from its focus on public health emergencies, the 76th World Health Assembly held a special debate on May 24th  to single out Israel, which was condemned by Iran, Syria, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela and Cuba, for allegedly violating the health rights of Palestinians and the Druze population in the Golan Heights.

By a vote of 76 to 13, with 35 abstentions, the WHO assembly adopted a resolution submitted by the Syrian and Palestinian delegations requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s meeting, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Co-sponsors of the resolution included Syria, Libya, Algeria, Cuba, Pakistan, Somalia, Venezuela and Yemen. No other country received a special agenda item at the WHO assembly.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, condemned the “cynical politicization of the world’s top health agency at the expense of focusing on urgent health priorities affecting hundreds of millions around the globe.”

WHO Singles Out Israel, Ignores Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia

“Out of 25 items on the current world health assembly’s agenda,” said Neuer, “only one focused on a specific country — Israel.”

“There has been no agenda item or resolution adopted on any other country, conflict, civil war or political impasse. Nothing on Syria, where hospitals and other medical infrastructure are deliberately bombed by Syrian and Russian forces; nothing on Afghanistan where the Taliban takeover has led to a collapse in basic health systems; and nothing on Ethiopia where more than 5 million people in Tigray are in dire need of humanitarian support, including health care, due to the conflict there,” said Neuer.

Session Falsely Accused Israel of Violating Palestinian & Syrian Health Rights

Syria, which two years ago was elected by consensus to the WHO executive board,  accused Israel of  “continuing to attack the Palestinian people under the nose of the international community.”

Russia condemned the “the one-sided activities of Israel that are supported by the United States including the continuing illegal activities in the Gaza strip, the reassigning of the populations, and the ruining of buildings and homes.”

North Korea, which was just elected to a 3-year term on on the WHO executive board, said it was “deeply concerned about the health conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The prolonged occupation, illegal settlement activity, and discriminatory practices continue to negatively impact the living conditions of the population.”

Venezuela expressed support for “the Palestinian people and their legitimate cause to seek self-determination and their legitimate right to access health services and medications which is constantly blocked by Israel.”

Neuer condemned the inflammatory remarks. “Today’s assault on Israel at the WHO by some of the world’s most oppressive regimes promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Neuer. “The opposite is true.”

“The regimes who attacked the Jewish state were projecting: the more oppressive they are to their own people and to their minorities, the more they resort to trying to demonize the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Biased Resolution Heavily Backed by Dictatorships and Minority of EU

The vote was 76 to 13 in favor of the resolution, with 35 abstentions and 56 absent.

Neuer commended Italy and Fiji for changing their votes from Abstain to No, as well as those nations that continued to vote in opposition as they did last year, including the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands.

“However, the minority of EU member states and other democracies who voted for the absurd resolution should be ashamed, including France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, India, Ireland, New Zealand and Luxembourg.”

“These countries have now encouraged the continued hijacking of the world’s health priorities, and the diversion of precious time, money, and resources to fight global disease, in order to wage a political prosecution of Israel.”

“Anyone who has ever walked into an Israeli hospital or clinic knows that they provide world-class health care to thousands of Palestinian Arabs as well as to Syrians fleeing Assad,” Neuer added.

Resolution Mandates Renewed Report & Debate on Israel

Last week’s resolution mandates the WHO director-general to prepare another report next year, to be submitted to the 77th World Health Assembly in 2024, thereby ensuring another day devoted to vitriolic accusations against Israel by Iran, Syria, Venezuela and others.

Unlike similar reports from the last two years, this year’s report did not rehash long-debunked claims of alleged Israeli “discrimination” in access to COVID-19 vaccines.

But as with previous reports, Palestinians fatalities in violent confrontations with Israelis are described as “the result of occupation-related violence,” a curious formulation that obfuscates the reality of a bitter conflict between two parties.

No mention is made that the overwhelming majority of Palestinian casualties in this violence are combatants or terrorists killed while carrying out attacks, though the report does mention that the overwhelming majority are adult males.

The number of Israelis killed is noted in passing, with no mention being made that the majority of them were noncombatants killed in Palestinian terror attacks.

Palestinian casualties in Gaza are also counted as “occupation-related violence,” despite Israel having withdrawn entirely from Gaza 18 years ago. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are nowhere mentioned.

The WHO report likewise fails to acknowledge legitimate Israeli security concerns when it calls on Israel to “end the arbitrary delay” of permits for Palestinian patients and the movement of ambulances and health care staff at checkpoints.

The WHO report makes repeated references to Israel’s West Bank barrier and  security checkpoints as well as the Gaza blockade, but never notes the deadly Palestinian terrorism which has made such barriers and the Gaza restrictions a necessity in the first place.

I just addressed #WHA76.
For decades now, the Palestinians & Syria have brought a political resolution @WHO. It is time to end this absurdity!

Its sole purpose is to attack Israel. It has not benefited the Palestinians & does not support in any way WHO’s assistance program for… pic.twitter.com/8uzyEXANpj

— Meirav Eilon Shahar 🇮🇱 (@MeiravEShahar) May 24, 2023

BREAKING: North Korea, a regime that starves its own people, was just elected to the @WHO Executive Board. No joke: https://t.co/cBmNO6AmvJ pic.twitter.com/661rILwqEY

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 31, 2023

The post WHO Singles Out Israel as Violator of Health Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

By a vote of 77 to 14, with 36 abstentions, the WHO assembly adopted a resolution submitted by Syria—elected by consensus last year to the WHO Executive Board—and the Palestinians, requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s assembly, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

The resolution was co-sponsored by countries such as Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela and Yemen.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, condemned the “cynical politicization of the world’s top health agency at the expense of focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health priorities.”

WHO Singles Out Israel, Ignores Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia

“Out of 28 items on the current world health assembly’s agenda,” said Neuer, “only one focused on a specific country—Israel.”

“There has been no agenda item or resolution adopted on any other country, conflict, civil war or political impasse. Nothing on Syria, where hospitals and other medical infrastructure are deliberately bombed by Syrian and Russian forces; nothing on Afghanistan where the Taliban takeover has led to a collapse in basic health systems; and nothing on Ethiopia where more than 5 million people in Tigray are in dire need of humanitarian support, including health care, due to the conflict there,” said Neuer.

For the first time, a resolution may be adopted tomorrow on Ukraine.

Session Falsely Accused Israel of Violating Palestinian & Syrian Health Rights

Syria, which last year was elected by consensus to the WHO executive board,  accused Israel of the “deliberate and systematic bombing of hospitals, healthcare facilities and personnel.”  He said the agenda item targeting Israel would remain on the agenda “as long as the occupation remains and until the virus is eradicated and the symptoms disappear.”

North Korea’s delegate said: “We appreciate the WHO director for his report and efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people. The brutality of Israeli atrocities against Palestinians and other Arabs in occupied territories has become institutionalized and undisguised.”

Iran’s delegate said: “As the moral force behind the Zionist movement is a sense of exceptionalism, racism and superiority, it can expand only by provoking and promoting wars and conflicts. The Israeli regime is therefore a destabilizing force by nature as per its genesis and the force that sustains it is an indelible not incidental feature of Zionism.”

Neuer condemned the inflammatory remarks. “Today’s assault on Israel at the WHO by some of the world’s most oppressive regimes promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Neuer. “The opposite is true.

“The regimes who today attacked the Jewish state were projecting: the more oppressive they are to their own people and to their minorities, the more they resort to trying to demonize the only democracy in the Middle East.” Click here to see more quotes and videos from today’s debate.

Today the W.H.O. held its annual debate targeting Israel. https://t.co/gH8Ph7LJDo

🇮🇷 Islamic Republic of Iran: "As the moral force behind the Zionist movement is a sense of exceptionalism, racism and superiority, it can expand only by provoking and promoting wars and conflicts." pic.twitter.com/wwQnwiKobL

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 25, 2022

Today the WHO targeted Israel. https://t.co/jEcovCmCcZ

🇸🇾 Syria: "The protracted Israeli colonial occupation of the Syrian Golan negatively impacts the living conditions of Syrian citizens under occupation & violates their basic human rights, including the right to health." pic.twitter.com/4tE9jvDVVz

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 25, 2022

France in EU Minority That Supported Biased Resolution

The vote was 77 to 14 in favor of the resolution, with 36 abstentions and 56 absent.

Those that voted No like last year were the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel and the Netherlands.

“However, the minority of EU member states and other democracies who voted for the absurd resolution should be ashamed, including France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Japan, India, Ireland, New Zealand and Luxembourg.”

“These countries have now encouraged the continued hijacking of the world’s health priorities, and the diversion of precious time, money, and resources to fight global disease, in order to wage a political prosecution of Israel.”

“Anyone who has ever walked into an Israeli hospital or clinic knows that they provide world-class health care to thousands of Palestinian Arabs as well as to Syrians fleeing Assad,” Neuer added.

Resolution Mandates Renewed Report & Debate on Israel

Today’s resolution mandates the WHO director-general to prepare another report next year, to be submitted to the 76th World Health Assembly in 2022, thereby ensuring another day devoted to vitriolic accusations against Israel by Iran, Syria, Venezuela and others.

Like last year’s text, the resolution falsely implied Israeli culpability by calling for “non-discriminatory, affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines” for Palestinians in the disputed territories and Syrians in the Golan Heights.

And keeping the 2021 text, in an apparent reference to last year’s 11-day Hamas-Israel conflict, the resolution calls for an assessment of “the extent and nature of psychiatric morbidity, and other forms of mental health problems, resulting from protracted aerial and other forms of bombing among the population.”

By passing the resolution, the assembly also adopted a WHO report which claims that fatalities and injuries in the Gaza Strip were “the result of occupation-related violence in 2021,” despite Israel having withdrawn from Gaza in 2005. The report claimed the majority of these fatalities and injuries occurring “during the military escalation” of May 2021. Hamas and Islamic Jihad were nowhere mentioned.

The WHO report likewise fails to acknowledge legitimate Israeli security concerns when it calls on Israel to “end the arbitrary delay” of permits for Palestinian patients and the movement of ambulances and health care staff at checkpoints.

The WHO report blames “physical obstacles of Israel’s separation barrier, settlement infrastructure and the extensive number of fixed and ‘flying’ checkpoints” for creating barriers to health care provision and states that the Gaza Strip is “under closure and blockade with severe limitations to entry and exit,” ignoring the deadly Palestinian terrorism which has made such barriers and the Gaza restrictions a necessity in the first place.

The post WHO’s 2022 Assembly Singles Out Israel as Violator of Health Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

“Syria’s election is a travesty,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group based in Switzerland. “It’s like appointing a pyromaniac to be the town fire chief.”

“Syria’s Assad regime, with the help of its allies Russia and Iran, systematically bombs hospitals and clinics, killing doctors, nurses, and others as they care for the sick and injured. Health professionals have also been arrested, disappeared, imprisoned, tortured and executed. Electing this murderous regime to govern the world’s top health body is an insult to Assad’s millions of victims, and sends a terrible message,” said Neuer.

White Helmets, the Syrian civil defense group of emergency medical workers, also condemned the election. “We are appalled by the WHO’s decision to reward the Assad regime for destroying hospitals and killing doctors and refusing to provide medical assistance to Syrians by electing it as a member of its executive board,” tweeted the group.

Neuer called on UN chief Antonio Guterres and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to denounce Syria’s election.

Over the past 10 years in Syria, there were 598 attacks on health care facilities and personnel, 350 health care facilities were targeted, and 930 medical professionals were killed, according to Physicians For Human Rights.

I know it's hard to believe so here's video and documentation: https://t.co/hM6hAB6lma

Regimes of Syria and Belarus elected to @WHO Executive Board.

"In the General Committee’s opinion these 12 Members would provide, if elected, a balanced distribution of the Board as a whole." pic.twitter.com/SHE5474oNl

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 29, 2021

The post Syria Elected to WHO Executive Board, Activists Outraged appeared first on UN Watch.

The session concluded with a vote of 83 to 14, with 39 abstentions, to adopt a resolution, submitted by the Palestinian delegation and co-sponsored by countries such as Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela and Yemen, requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s assembly, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, condemned the “cynical politicization of the world’s top health agency at the expense of focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and other vital global health priorities and emergencies.”

WHO Singles Out Israel, Ignores Syria, Yemen, Venezuela

“Out of 34 items on the current world health assembly’s Agenda, only one, Item 25 targeting Israel, focused on a specific country. There was no agenda item or resolution on any other country, conflict, civil war or political impasse—not on Syria, where hospitals and other medical infrastructure are repeatedly and deliberately bombed by Syrian and Russian forces; not on war-torn Yemen, where 18 million are in dire need of health assistance; and not on Venezuela, where the health system is in a state of collapse and 7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Neuer.

Session Falsely Accused Israel of Violating Palestinian & Syrian Health Rights

“Today’s assault on Israel at the WHO promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Neuer. “The opposite is true.”

“Despite the fact that the Palestinians have their own health system, and under the Oslo II Peace Accord it is the Palestinian Authority which is responsible for vaccinating their population, Israel has vaccinated over 100,000 Palestinian workers since March as well as donating thousands of vaccine doses for Palestinian medical workers.”

“Israeli medical teams coordinated with Palestinian medical professionals to provide training and assistance. Israel transferred medical equipment and has trained dozens of Palestinian doctors, nurses and medical personnel from Gaza before the Palestinian Authority ceased coordination in May 2020, putting more pressure on their health care system during a pandemic,” Neuer added.

“Moreover, it’s particularly absurd for the WHO to enact a resolution effectively accusing Israel of violating the health rights of Syrians in the Golan, while the Director-General’s report clearly states that they have full access to universal health care under the Israeli health maintenance organizations, including COVID testing, medical care, contact tracing and vaccination,” he said.

France in EU Minority That Supported Biased Resolution

The vote was 83 to 14 in favor of the resolution, with 39 abstentions and 38 absent.

UN Watch applauded the Netherlands, Austria and Colombia for shifting their votes from Abstain last year to No today.

Those that voted No like last year were the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, and Israel.

UN Watch also welcomed the voting shifts of Poland, Malta and Monaco, which moved from Yes to Abstain.

“However, amid a global pandemic, the minority of EU member states and other democracies who voted for the resolution should be ashamed, including France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Japan, India, Ireland, New Zealand and Luxembourg.”

“These countries have now encouraged the continued hijacking of the world’s health priorities, and the diversion of precious time, money, and resources to fight global disease, in order to wage a political prosecution of Israel.”

“Anyone who has ever walked into an Israeli hospital or clinic knows that they provide world-class health care to thousands of Palestinian Arabs as well as to Syrians fleeing Assad,” Neuer added.

In addition to voting against the decision, the US took the floor to object to the politicization of the forum.

Resolution Mandates Renewed Report & Debate on Israel

Today’s resolution, which is similar to the text adopted at the 2020 World Health Assembly, mandates the WHO director-general to prepare another report next year, to be submitted to the 75th World Health Assembly in 2022, thereby ensuring another day devoted to vitriolic accusations against Israel by Iran, Syria, Venezuela and others.

Adding to last year’s text, the resolution falsely implied Israeli culpability by calling for “non-discriminatory, affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines” for Palestinians in the disputed territories and Syrians in the Golan Heights.”

And in an apparent reference to the recent 11-day Hamas-Israel conflict, the resolution calls for an assessment of “the extent and nature of psychiatric morbidity, and other forms of mental health problems, resulting from protracted aerial and other forms of bombing among the population,”

By passing the resolution, the assembly also adopted a WHO report which claims that “the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is a protracted protection crisis, with Palestinians exposed to high levels of violence.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad were nowhere mentioned.

The WHO report accuses Israel of hindering “efforts to strengthen, build or rehabilitate infrastructure for the water, sanitation and hygiene services in health care facilities, health and other sectors” due to “restrictions on the entry of materials and Israel’s application of a dual use list.” Yet it completely ignores the diversion of such materials by Hamas for the building of terror tunnels and other terrorist infrastructure at the expense of civilian structures.

The WHO’s report also blames “physical barriers, including the separation wall [and] the extensive network of checkpoints” for “hamper[ing] the free movement of Palestinians within the West Bank, including into east Jerusalem,” yet it ignores the deadly Palestinian terrorism which has made such barriers a necessity in the first place.

The post WHO Meeting Deviates From COVID-19 to Single Out Israel As Violator of Health Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

In an interview with Sky News Australia, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer says the World Health Organization picked former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark to be co-chair of the inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 because “they know she’s going to give them a free pass.”

UN Watch criticized the appointment of Clark to the position of co-chair of the inquiry, arguing Clark has shown partisan support for the World Health Organization, whose actions she is supposed to be investigating throughout the inquiry.

“I think she was chosen for precisely the reason that she’s very close with the World Health Organization.”

“They know that over the past year, through the pandemic, she has given them the free pass,” Mr. Neuer told Sky News host Sharri Markson. “She’s defended their siding with China time after time.”

“She’s been in their court from the beginning.”

“So, they picked someone who is supposed to investigate the global response to the coronavirus pandemic which includes the WHO response, which includes what China did, and they know that she’s going to give them a free pass. That’ s very clear.”

“Certainly… if we’re meant to have trust in this so-called independent and impartial international panel, then we need to have a chair who appears impartial. And currently, there are reasonable grounds for a reasonable person to believe that she is not impartial.”

The Sky News report also did an excellent job of presenting all of the evidence documented in UN Watch’s open letter to Helen Clark:

The post WHO’s Coronavirus Inquiry: Chair Helen Clark is Not Impartial — Hillel Neuer on Sky News Australia appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, November 12, 2020 — Deviating from its focus on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual assembly of the UN’s World Health Organization held a four-hour session focused on Israel, which saw itself condemned in speeches by some 30 delegations, including Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lebanon and Venezuela, for allegedly violating the health rights of Palestinians and Syrians in the Golan Heights.

The session concluded with a vote of 78 to 14, with 32 abstentions, to adopt a resolution, co-sponsored by Syria, Cuba, Turkey, Qatar and the Palestinian delegation, requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s assembly, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, condemned the “cynical politicization of the world’s top health agency at the expense of focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and other vital global health priorities and emergencies.”

WHO Singles Out Israel, Ignores Syria, Yemen, Venezuela

“Out of 23 items on the current world health assembly’s Agenda, only one, Item 17 targeting Israel, focused on a specific country. There was no agenda item or resolution on any other country, conflict, civil war or political impasse—not on Syria, where hospitals and other medical infrastructure are repeatedly and deliberately bombed by Syrian and Russian forces; not on war-torn Yemen, where 14 million are in dire need of health assistance; and not on Venezuela, where the health system is in a state of collapse and 7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Neuer.

Session Falsely Accused Israel of Violating Palestinian & Syrian Health Rights

“Today’s four-hour assault on Israel at the WHO promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Neuer. “The opposite is true.”

“Despite the conflict, Israel grants entry to tens of thousands of Palestinians who receive top-level medical care at Israeli hospitals. Even the UN’s own Middle East peace envoy hailed Israel’s ‘excellent’ coordination and cooperation with Palestinians amid the coronavirus pandemic,” said Neuer.

“Israeli medical teams coordinate with Palestinian medical professionals to provide training and assistance. Israel transfers medical equipment and has trained dozens of Palestinian doctors, nurses and medical personnel from Gaza,” Neuer added.

Click here for today’s UN Watch report on Israeli health cooperation with Palestinians.

“Moreover, it’s particularly absurd for the WHO to enact a resolution effectively accusing Israel of violating the health rights of Syrians in the Golan, when in reality Israeli hospitals have provided life-saving treatment to Syrians fleeing to the Golan from the Assad regime’s barbaric attacks,” he said.

When you accuse somebody else of violating health rights while speaking beneath a portrait of your genocidal dictator boss who routinely drops barrel bombs on hospitals in his own country to kill his own people.

At today's @WHO annual assembly. France voted to renew this debate. https://t.co/CFoT8GnfAy

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 12, 2020

France in EU Minority That Supported Biased Resolution 

The vote was 78 to 14 on the resolution, with 32 abstentions and 56 absent.

UN Watch applauded numerous countries which this year shifted their votes from Yes to Abstain, including Sweden, Norway, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Iceland, and Uruguay. Norway explained that the WHO was not a forum for political matters. There were 32 abstentions this year, 11 more than in 2019.

“However, amid a global pandemic, the minority of EU member states and other democracies who voted for the resolution should be ashamed, including France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Japan, India, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Monaco.”

“These countries have now encouraged the continued hijacking of the world’s health priorities, and the diversion of precious time, money, and resources to fight global disease, in order to wage a political prosecution of Israel.”

“Anyone who has ever walked into an Israeli hospital or clinic knows that they provide world-class health care to thousands of Palestinian Arabs—including over the past month to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat—as well as to Syrians fleeing Assad,” Neuer added.

Those that voted no like last year were the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, and Israel, while those that changed their votes to no this year were Slovenia, Cameroon, Eswatini and Micronesia.

In addition to voting against the resolution, the US, the UK and Canada took the floor to object to the politicization of the forum.

Resolution Mandates Renewed Report & Debate on Israel

The resolution mandates the WHO director-general to prepare another report next year, to be submitted to the 74th World Health Assembly in 2021, thereby ensuring another day devoted to vitriolic accusations against Israel by Iran, Syria, Venezuela and others.

By enacting the resolution, the assembly also adopted a WHO report which claims that “Palestinians living under chronic occupation are exposed to high levels of violence.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad were nowhere mentioned.

The report accused Israel of “violence towards demonstrators,” yet completely ignored the role of Hamas and other terrorist groups in orchestrating violence and encouraging demonstrators to approach the hostile area of the Gaza-Israel border.

The WHO report further points the finger at Israel for Palestinian “mental health and psychosocial problems,” implicitly blaming the Jewish state for causing Palestinians to suffer “depression, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.”

The WHO’s report lauded UNRWA’s role in training 2,000 staff members in providing mental health services, but omitted the role of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to terrorism and violence on the mental health of Palestinian children.

_____

Resolution: “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan”

Votes in favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Votes against: Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, Eswatini, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia (Federated States of), Slovenia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.

Abstentions: Austria, Barbados, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Uruguay.

Absent: Albania, Andorra, Bahamas, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Nigeria, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia.

🇵🇰 Pakistan at @WHO's annual special meeting to condemn Israel: "Israel's occupation is responsible for increased mental health problems. One in five Palestinians have anxiety, depression, Post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia." pic.twitter.com/bxqEFsmufM

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) November 13, 2020

The post WHO Meeting Deviates From Coronavirus to Single Out Israel As Violator of Health Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

Clark was appointed by the world’s top health agency to co-chair the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, an impartial inquiry that will probe the WHO’s handling of the coronavirus and the response of governments around the world. The panel is scheduled to present its progress report today, and the final report in May 2021.

However, according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based NGO UN Watch, “Clark’s numerous statements this year praising the WHO for the very actions she is meant to investigate, as well as her history of close ties with Beijing—which backed her recent bid to become UN chief—give rise to the appearance of bias, and could seriously undermine the credibility of the panel’s findings.”

“That is why we have written Ms. Clark a formal letter today, documenting the problematic statements, and urging her to step down from her role as co-chair of the inquiry.” See full letter below.

“The WHO’s selection of Helen Clark for the coronavirus inquiry gives rise to legitimate concerns that both China and the WHO will get a free pass from an investigation whose findings could be essential to protecting global public health,” said Neuer.

UN Watch’s appeal to Clark comes after a recent New York Times report on the WHO’s deference to China and praise for Beijing throughout the course of the pandemic.

The WHO schedule shows the brief progress report (A73/INF./4) will be presented this afternoon under Agenda Item 13.2, which deals with the WHO’s work in health emergencies.

November 10, 2020

Dear Ms. Clark,

UN Watch respectfully requests that you recuse yourself as co-chair of the WHO inquiry into the origin of and global response to the coronavirus pandemic. Though WHO chief Dr. Tedros has lauded you as an independent leader who is singularly qualified to head this investigation, your extensive record of partisan statements defending the WHO as well as your close ties with the Chinese government give rise to the appearance of bias which, under international law, are grounds for recusal.

Concerning the WHO, you have made sweeping claims defending the agency and its handling of the coronavirus. In April, for example, you tweeted an article sympathetic to the WHO’s response to the pandemic since it was notified of the Wuhan outbreak, adding that the “WHO has been in battle mode,” that “the Agency needs support, not brickbats,” and defending the WHO’s response on grounds that it was “guided by rules [the] USA helped write.”

Just last week, in a Bloomberg News interview, when asked if it was wrong for the WHO to gushingly praise China’s response to the outbreak, you evaded the question, saying, “it’s very difficult to criticize any member state.”

In June, you again defended the WHO, despite its failure to swiftly label COVID-19 a “pandemic,” and instead you put the onus on countries for not acting sooner.

Furthermore, in a July radio interview with Newstalk ZB, you said “the WHO has never advocated travel bans” during the pandemic, which is false. Dr. Tedros tweeted in January that the agency opposed travel restrictions.

Concerning China, in 2016 you were described as “a good friend” of the Beijing regime when President Xi Jinping pledged to support your bid for the position of UN Secretary-General.

Months later, as head of the UN Development Program, you supported China’s Belt and Road Initiative, praising the country’s “historic transformation” and contributions to global and social development—even though the $1 trillion-dollar infrastructure and investments scheme has fueled Beijing’s persecution of the Uighurs, many of whom live in a region at the heart of the network.

Also of concern is your close ties with Chinese state propagandist James Chau, a WHO ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ who, according to a complaint by 100 non-governmental organizations, has systematically abused his UN position to whitewash Beijing’s role in the virus outbreak.

In April you appeared on Chau’s program “The China Current,” which is funded by a top Beijing official tied to the Chinese Communist Party apparatus.

In that interview, you implied that China should be considered a model country for the world in its response to the outbreak.

You also criticized the “flat-footed response” of the international community, and hastened to add, “Let’s except from that the World Health Organization,” which “has really tried to give global leadership.”

Even more, when asked in July if the WHO panel would investigate China’s influence over the WHO, you refused to answer. And, despite reports verifying that China withheld information from the WHO, you gave Beijing a pass on its initial response to the virus.

When it comes to your ability to scrutinize the actions of China, your record of supporting other communist dictatorships is an additional concern. For example, you praised Cuba’s Castro regime for sending doctors abroad to fight the coronavirus, even after a November 2019 UN report found that Cuban medics suffered severe human rights abuses and treatment that was tantamount “to a modern-day form of slavery.” The report said Cuban doctors are significantly overworked, receive only two-thirds of monthly wages while the rest is handed over to the regime, and fear threats of reprisals and imprisonment for those who fail to complete a mission abroad. You also paid tribute to Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro, who systematically violated human rights and attacked UN human rights experts who criticized his regime.

The coronavirus pandemic has seriously impacted the lives of virtually everyone in the world. Assessing the origins, spread, and response to the outbreak is essential for the future of humanity.

Regrettably, as shown above, your numerous partisan statements defending the WHO’s response to the pandemic disqualify you from objectively investigating this question. Your close ties to the Chinese government likewise pose a conflict of interest and create the appearance of bias that undermines your ability to impartially investigate the role of China, where the coronavirus began.

Accordingly, to ensure the credibility and effectiveness of this consequential international inquiry, we respectfully urge you to recuse yourself from your role as co-chair.

Sincerely,
Hillel C. Neuer
Executive Director
United Nations Watch
Geneva, Switzerland

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