US notifies UN of withdrawal from World Health Organization

US notifies UN of withdrawal from World Health Organization

Washington: The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, although the pullout won”t take effect until next year, meaning it could be rescinded under a new administration of if circumstances change.

The withdrawal notification, delivered on Monday, makes good on President Donald Trump”s vow in late May to terminate US participation in the WHO, which he has harshly criticized for its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused of bowing to Chinese influence. The move was immediately assailed by health officials and critics of the administration.

The withdrawal notice was sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday and will take effect in a year, on July 6, 2021, the State Department and the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Guterres, in his capacity as depositary of the 1946 WHO constitution, “is in the process of verifying with the World Health Organization whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.

Under the terms of the withdrawal, the US must meet its financial obligations to the WHO before it can be finalized. The US, which is the agency”s largest donor and provides it with more than USD 400 million per year, currently owes the WHO some USD 200 million in current and past dues.

In late May, less than two weeks after warning the WHO that it had 30 days to reform or lose US support, Trump announced his administration was leaving the organization due to what he said was its inadequate response to the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China”s Wuhan province late last year.

The president said in a White House announcement that Chinese officials “ignored” their reporting obligations to the WHO and pressured the organization to mislead the public about an outbreak that has now killed more than 130,000 Americans.

“We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act,” Trump said at the time. “Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating the relationship.”

The withdrawal notification was widely denounced as misguided, certain to undermine an important institution that is leading vaccine development efforts and drug trials to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The administration”s move to formally withdraw from WHO amid the greatest public health crisis that Americans and the world have faced in a century is short-sighted, unnecessary, and unequivocally dangerous,” said UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens.

“WHO is the only body capable of leading and coordinating the global response to COVID-19. Terminating the US relationship would undermine the global effort to beat this virus — putting all of us at risk.” The ONE Campaign, which supports international health projects, called it an “astounding action” that jeopardizes global health.

“Withdrawing from the World Health Organization amidst an unprecedented global pandemic is an astounding action that puts the safety of all Americans and the world at risk.

The US should use its influence to strengthen and reform the WHO, not abandon it at a time when the world needs it most,” ONE president Gayle Smith said.

Top UN official warns of increase in malicious emails amid Covid-19

Top UN official warns of increase in malicious emails amid Covid-19

The UN disarmament chief warned that cybercrime is on the rise, with a 600 percent increase in malicious emails during the pandemic.

A variety of phishing campaigns are taking advantage of the heightened focus on Covid-19 to distribute malware, steal credentials, and scam users out of money.

Izumi Nakamitsu told an informal meeting of the UN Security Council that the coronavirus crisis is moving the world toward increased technological innovation and online collaboration but, there are also reports of cyber attacks taking place worldwide.

Nakamitsu said the threat from misusing information and communications technology ‘is urgent’.

Ballot voting in UN Security Council election

Ballot voting in UN Security Council election

United Nations: The UN General Assembly will cast ballots in-person for five new non-permanent Security Council seats, its president said Thursday, effectively ruling out electronic voting despite the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to UN members obtained by AFP, President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said that voting members would be “invited to visit the venue at the designated time slot communicated to them in advance” in order to cast their ballot.

Mexico and India are guaranteed a spot on the Council as the only countries in the running to represent Latin America and Asia respectively.

Ireland, Norway and Canada will compete among themselves for two more seats. Meanwhile, Kenya and Djibouti will vie for the only spot reserved for Africa.

The vote is planned for June 17, but the letter seen Thursday referenced only the month of June, meaning a change of date could be possible depending on circumstances.

According to the letter, the 193 General Assembly members will vote “by secret ballot without a plenary meeting.” Although no location was given, the vote is likely to be held at UN headquarters. In normal times, the annual vote to elect five of the body’s 10 non-permanent members takes place like clockwork during a well-oiled ceremony, with states placing their secret vote into a ballot box in the General Assembly’s main hall.

In recent weeks, General Assembly members have expressed concern that their secret ballot might be revealed or that electronic fraud could take place, a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

With the stakes high, competing countries have gone to great lengths to win votes.

In 2018, Ireland curried favor with invitations to a concert by Irish rockers U2.

The Globe and Mail recently reported that Canada had hoped to similarly sway states with a March concert in Brooklyn by Celine Dion.

Global trade fell 3% in first quarter of 2020 due to COVID-19: UN

Global trade fell 3% in first quarter of 2020 due to COVID-19: UN

United Nations: The coronavirus pandemic has led to a three percent drop in global trade in the first quarter of 2020 and this downturn is expected to accelerate in the next quarter to project a whopping quarter-on-quarter decline of 27 percent, the UN trade body has warned.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report that the drop in global trade was accompanied by marked decreases in commodity prices, which have fallen precipitously since December last year.

The report is a product of cooperation between the international statistics community and national statistical offices and systems around the world, coordinated by UNCTAD.

“Everywhere governments are pressed to make post-COVID-19 recovery decisions with long-lasting consequences,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.

The coronavirus pandemic cut global trade values by 3 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest data published in the joint report by 36 international organizations.

The downturn is expected to accelerate in the second quarter, with global trade projected to record a quarter-on-quarter decline of 27 percent, said the report compiled by the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA).

“UNCTAD’s free-market commodity price index (FMCPI), which measures the price movements of primary commodities exported by developing economies, lost 1.2 percent of its value in January, 8.5 per cent in February, and a whopping 20.4 per cent in March,” it said.

Plummeting fuel prices were the main driver of the steep decline, plunging 33.2 percent in March, while prices of minerals, ores, metals, food, and agricultural raw materials tumbled by less than 4 percent.

The more than 20 percent fall in commodity prices in March was a record in the history of the FMCPI. By comparison, during the global financial crisis of 2008, the maximum month-on-month decrease was 18.6 percent.

At that time, the descent lasted six months. Worryingly, the duration and overall strength of the current downward trend in commodity prices and global trade remain uncertain.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic sent international commerce into a tailspin, global merchandise trade volumes and values were showing modest signs of recovery since late 2019.

“In this time of crisis, we are putting out the facts as we know them today. We’ll continue monitoring the global trade landscape as it evolves,” said UNCTAD’s chief statistician, Steve MacFeely.

The UN forecast on Wednesday that the global economy will contract sharply by 3.2 percent as the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzes the world, sharply restricting economic activities, increasing uncertainties, and unleashing a recession unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“The pandemic, which is disproportionately hurting low-skilled, low-wage jobs, while leaving higher-skilled jobs less affected – will further widen income inequality within and between countries,” it said.

US Govt hasn’t shared evidence on alleged COVID-19 origin: UN

US Govt hasn’t shared evidence on alleged COVID-19 origin: UN

Geneva: The World Health Organization’s emergency chief said Monday, May 4 that it has received no evidence from the US government to back up allegations by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the coronavirus could have originated at a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

From our perspective, this remains speculative, Michael Ryan told reporters in Geneva.

We have not received any data or specific evidence from the US government relating to the purported origin of the virus. He said that WHO would be very willing to receive any such information the US has.

The comments come as the Trump administration has denounced both China and the UN health agency for alleged missteps in handling the outbreak that first emerged in the city of Wuhan and has now infected millions and killed at least 239,000 people.

Trump on Friday said that WHO was like the public relations agency for China.

Ryan reiterated that the evidence and advice that the UN health agency has received suggest that the novel coronavirus is of natural origin, even if Pompeo and Trump have alleged evidence they have seen suggests it could be from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab.

“If that data and evidence is available, then it will be for the United States government to decide whether and when it can be shared,” Ryan said.

But it’s difficult for WHO to operate in an information vacuum in that specific regard.

On Sunday, Pompeo told ABC’s This Week program that there was a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.

Ryan and Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead on the WHO emergencies program, put their focus on the hunt for the animal host that is believed to have relayed the coronavirus from bats.

Such a determination could help drive public health policies, like advising people to keep away from some types of wildlife or livestock.

They said that Chinese scientists continued to work with the world against the pandemic, and suggested such collaboration remained crucial and that efforts to investigate possible wrongdoing by Chinese officials could derail such scientific cooperation.

“We need to understand that we can learn from Chinese scientists, we can learn from each other, we can exchange knowledge and we can find the answers together,” Ryan said.

“If this is projected as an aggressive investigation of wrongdoing, then I believe that’s much more difficult to deal with. That’s a political issue. That is not a science issue. Science will find the answers,” he added.

The implications of those answers can be dealt with from a policy and political perspective. WHO heaped praise on China from early on in the outbreak.

On January 30, moments before announcing that the coronavirus was a global health emergency, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said China was setting a new standard for outbreak response.

He praised the speed with which China detected the outbreak, sequenced the genome, and shared that information with WHO.

He said that its commitment to transparency was beyond words.

The joint team said at the time that it was not probing any allegations that China may have mishandled the outbreak.