World Health Organization member countries decided Friday to grant additional rights to Palestinians, echoing a similar decision earlier this month by the United Nations General Assembly.
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Member countries meeting this week at the World Health Assembly – the WHO’s highest decision-making body – voted overwhelmingly in favor of a draft resolution aimed at “aligning Palestinian participation” in the WHO with its participation in the UN.
Of the 177 countries with the right to vote, 101 supported the text and five opposed it. The result of the vote, which was done by show of hands, was applauded for a long time.
Introduced by a group of predominantly Arab and Muslim countries, as well as China, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the resolution calls for the Palestinians, who already have observer status with the WHO, to be granted virtually the same rights. same rights as if they were full members.
The vote in Geneva came after U.N. members voted earlier this month in New York with an overwhelming majority in favor of more rights for Palestinians within the world body, and after their campaign for full membership had been blocked by the United States in the Security Council.
AFP
At the AMS in Geneva, the Palestinians and their supporters abandoned their demands for full membership. Several diplomatic sources suggested this was due to fears that a vote in favor of Palestinian membership would trigger an automatic suspension of US funding to the World Health Organization.
On the other hand, the text approved on Friday grants, among other things, to the Palestinians “the right to sit among the Member States […] the right to submit proposals and amendments […] [et] to be elected to the office of the plenary and main committees of the Health Assembly.
In this same text, however, it is emphasized that “Palestine, as an observer State, does not have the right to vote in the Health Assembly nor to present its candidacy to the bodies of the WHO”.
This adoption took place against the backdrop of war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The conflict was sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israeli territory.
It led to the death of more than 1,189 people, mainly civilians, according to a count carried out by AFP based on the latest official data available. Of the 252 people taken as hostages during the attack, 121 are still being held in Gaza, of whom 37 have died according to the army.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a “terrorist” organization along with the United States and the European Union, and launched an offensive that has so far killed 36,224 people. in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry.
