Medical workers criticise decision to give Syria seat on WHO board Workers in Idlib say Bashar al-Assad’s government has bombed hospitals and clinics
about an hour ago
Syrians demonstrate against elections in the opposition held city of Idlib on May 26th. President Bashar al-Assad was returned to power with more than 95 per cent of the vote in an vote that opponents say was marked by fraud. Photograph: Getty Images
Dozens of medical workers in rebel-held northwest Syria have protested a decision to grant president Bashar al-Assad’s government a seat on the executive board of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
They said Mr Assad is responsible for bombing hospitals and clinics across the war-ravaged country. The decision to give Syria a seat came a decade into the country s devastating civil war that has left untold numbers of civilians - including many health care workers - dead and injured. The selection of Syria at a little-noticed Saturday session of the WHO s annual assembly - which brings together all member states of the UN health agency - has evoked outrage in opposition-held Idlib province. Rifaat Farhat, a senior health official in Idlib, said the move contradicts all international and humanitarian laws . Syria was among 12 WHO member states that were chosen to appoint new members for the 34-member board in an assembly vote that faced no debate or opposition.
Posted by Scott Lucas | Jun 1, 2021 |
The Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo city, destroyed by Russia and Assad regime airstrikes in spring 2016
The appointment of the Assad regime to the World Health Organization’s executive board has been met with protests inside and outside Syria.
Medical workers in opposition-held Idlib Province challenged the three-year appointment, which was made with no debate.
Protesters outside the main health department in Idlib city carried the banner, “We reject the idea that our killer and he who destroyed our hospitals be represented on the executive board.”
Rifaat Farhat, a senior health official, said the appointment “contradicts all international and humanitarian laws”. The White Helmets civil defense issued a statement: