Organizations disappointed after WHO’s election of Syria to executive board

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Syrian civil society  and humanitarian organizations expressed disappointment in a statement on Monday following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) election of Syria as an executive board member.

The Syrian Civil Defence, volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets operating in rebel-held areas, posted a statement to Twitter criticizing the move from the WHO due to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

“This election rewards the Assad regime despite its systematic destruction of hospitals and health centers, in addition to a long list of other war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law targeting civilians, aid workers and medical personnel over the past decade,” read a statement published by the White Helmets with 18 civil society and humanitarian organizations as signatories. 

“We firmly condemn the election of a Syria led by Assad to the WHO Executive Council, just as we refuse to betray our fellow humanitarian workers and the victims of the Assad regime's attacks,” the statement added. “Syrian civil society organizations will intensify its efforts to expose these violations and will continue to pursue accountability for the Syrian regime as well as the institutions that prop it up until we achieve justice for these victims.”

The WHO on Friday announced that Syria was elected as a new member of the organization’s executive board for the period of three years.

Today #Syria was elected as a new member of the @WHO Executive Board (EB) among other newly joining members for the period of 3 years. pic.twitter.com/DdwZEEZfNo

— WHO Syria (@WHOSyria) May 28, 2021

The WHO’s decision also comes a little over a year after the WHO themselves announced that they had documented 494 attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities across Syria since 2016. 

The Syrian government has previously come under attack by human rights organizations for its “deliberate” destruction of hospitals.

“Russian and Syrian government forces are deliberately targeting hospital after hospital to pave the way for ground forces to advance on northern Aleppo, according to our latest investigations,” Amnesty International said in May 2020. 

“Under the laws of war, hospitals and medical units enjoy special protection. They only lose their protection from attacks if they are being used outside their humanitarian function to commit 'acts harmful to the enemy' such as to store weapons,” the rights watchdog added. “According to every eyewitness, the hospitals were exclusively serving their humanitarian function.”

The White Helmets further criticized the decision claiming that it “will only increase its (Syrian government) ability to utilize the organization's policies and work for its own political gains, to the detriment of Syrian civilians in desperate need of medical support and health care,” calling on the WHO to “refrain from becoming complicit in war crimes, human rights violations, and crimes against humanity.”

According to data provided by the organization in their statement citing Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), from March 2011 to March 2021, the Syrian government and Russian forces have been responsible for 540 attacks on medical facilities and centers.

During those attacks, PHR reported the death of 827 medical workers.

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