By AFP
WHO member states voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn the devastating health impacts triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exactly 15 months into the war.
A resolution adopted at the World Health Organization’s annual decision-making assembly in Geneva demanded that Moscow immediately cease all attacks on hospitals in Ukraine and voiced concern for wider health impacts in the region.
Member states backed the text by 80 votes to nine, with 52 abstentions.
The assembly voted “to condemn in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s continued aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on health care facilities… as well as widespread attacks on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure”.
The resolution was brought forward by Ukraine and 42 other states.
All 27 European Union countries co-sponsored the text, except Hungary, which was absent from the vote.
Besides Russia, the countries voting against the draft resolution included Algeria, Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea and Syria.
The resolution voiced “serious concerns over the continued health emergency in Ukraine and refugee-receiving and -hosting countries, triggered by the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine”.
These concerns included the “risks of radiological, biological and chemical events and hazards” and the exacerbation of the global food security crisis.
The resolution urged Russia to “immediately cease any attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities” and called for unhindered access to people in need of assistance.
Russia and Syria brought forward a draft resolution of their own concerning the “health emergency in and around Ukraine”.
It voiced “grave concerns over the ongoing health emergency resulting in conflict-related trauma and injuries” but did not mention Russia in the text.
It was rejected by 62 votes to 13, with 61 abstentions.
The votes were an indicator of international levels of support for Kyiv and Moscow 15 months into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine’s ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko said the backing for Kyiv’s resolution was “a sign of hope for more than 14 million Ukrainians in need of health assistance” and a show of solidarity with the country’s health workers.
She said the vote showed Moscow that “attacks on health care on a massive scale are not tolerated”.
Russia’s representative Vera Khutorskaya told the assembly that the adopted resolution was “full of lies”.
“We are against lies and the politicisation of the work of the WHO,” she said.
The WHO has verified 974 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since the invasion, resulting in 101 deaths and 136 injuries. Some 873 of those attacks impacted on facilities; 821 involved heavy weapons.
The WHO’s surveillance system for attacks on healthcare does not attribute responsibility.
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British ambassador Simon Manley said Russia’s invasion had caused “immense damage to Ukraine’s health system”.
US ambassador Sheba Crocker said that “under the thoroughly disingenuous veneer of neutrality, Russia’s resolution attempted to absolve the Russian Federation of all responsibility”, saying Moscow alone had triggered the health emergency in Ukraine.
Moscow’s ally Syria said it “deplores the adoption of this unilateral decision that is motivated by politics and double standards that are sponsored by complicit Western states who created the crisis in Ukraine”.
WHO member states voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn the devastating health impacts triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exactly 15 months into the war.
A resolution adopted at the World Health Organization’s annual decision-making assembly in Geneva demanded that Moscow immediately cease all attacks on hospitals in Ukraine and voiced concern for wider health impacts in the region.
Member states backed the text by 80 votes to nine, with 52 abstentions.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The assembly voted “to condemn in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s continued aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on health care facilities… as well as widespread attacks on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure”.
The resolution was brought forward by Ukraine and 42 other states.
All 27 European Union countries co-sponsored the text, except Hungary, which was absent from the vote.
Besides Russia, the countries voting against the draft resolution included Algeria, Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea and Syria.
The resolution voiced “serious concerns over the continued health emergency in Ukraine and refugee-receiving and -hosting countries, triggered by the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine”.
These concerns included the “risks of radiological, biological and chemical events and hazards” and the exacerbation of the global food security crisis.
The resolution urged Russia to “immediately cease any attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities” and called for unhindered access to people in need of assistance.
Russia and Syria brought forward a draft resolution of their own concerning the “health emergency in and around Ukraine”.
It voiced “grave concerns over the ongoing health emergency resulting in conflict-related trauma and injuries” but did not mention Russia in the text.
It was rejected by 62 votes to 13, with 61 abstentions.
The votes were an indicator of international levels of support for Kyiv and Moscow 15 months into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine’s ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko said the backing for Kyiv’s resolution was “a sign of hope for more than 14 million Ukrainians in need of health assistance” and a show of solidarity with the country’s health workers.
She said the vote showed Moscow that “attacks on health care on a massive scale are not tolerated”.
Russia’s representative Vera Khutorskaya told the assembly that the adopted resolution was “full of lies”.
“We are against lies and the politicisation of the work of the WHO,” she said.
The WHO has verified 974 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since the invasion, resulting in 101 deaths and 136 injuries. Some 873 of those attacks impacted on facilities; 821 involved heavy weapons.
The WHO’s surveillance system for attacks on healthcare does not attribute responsibility.
ALSO READ | Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant cut off from power grid
British ambassador Simon Manley said Russia’s invasion had caused “immense damage to Ukraine’s health system”.
US ambassador Sheba Crocker said that “under the thoroughly disingenuous veneer of neutrality, Russia’s resolution attempted to absolve the Russian Federation of all responsibility”, saying Moscow alone had triggered the health emergency in Ukraine.
Moscow’s ally Syria said it “deplores the adoption of this unilateral decision that is motivated by politics and double standards that are sponsored by complicit Western states who created the crisis in Ukraine”.
