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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
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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.