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The United States will depart the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 6, 2021, the United Nations stated on Tuesday, after receiving notification of the choice by President Donald Trump, who has accused the company of turning into a puppet for China throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump, who introduced the choice over a month in the past, has to give one-year discover of the US withdrawal from the Geneva-based physique and pay all Washington’s dues underneath a 1948 joint decision of the US Congress. The United States at present owes the WHO greater than $200 million in assessed contributions, in accordance to the WHO web site.
After greater than 70 years of membership, the United States moved to stop the WHO amid escalating tensions with China over the coronavirus pandemic. The virus first emerged within the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan late final 12 months.
The WHO has denied assertions by Trump that it promoted Chinese “disinformation” concerning the virus.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Trump’s official withdrawal as “an act of true senselessness as WHO coordinates the global fight against COVID-19.”
“With millions of lives at risk, the President is crippling the international effort to defeat the virus,” the Democratic chief posted on Twitter.
So far there have been practically 12 million circumstances of the coronavirus and greater than 540,000 identified deaths worldwide, in accordance to a Reuters tally, with about 25% of each circumstances and deaths within the United States.
Trump’s choice might be overturned earlier than it takes effect if he’s defeated by his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in a November election.
Trump had halted funding for the 194-member group in April, then in a May 18 letter gave the WHO 30 days to commit to reforms. He introduced the United States would stop lower than two weeks later.
Vice President Mike Pence, requested in a Fox News Channel interview whether or not it was the best time to break with the WHO, stated: “It’s absolutely the right time.”
“The World Health Organization let the world down … There have to be consequences to this,” Pence stated.
The WHO is an impartial worldwide physique that works with the United Nations. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has stated that the WHO is “absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19.”
“The Secretary-General … is in the process of verifying with the World Health Organization whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated in a press release on Tuesday.
Since taking workplace, Trump has additionally stop the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. cultural company, a worldwide accord to deal with local weather change and the Iran nuclear deal. He has additionally minimize funding for the U.N. inhabitants fund and the U.N. company that aids Palestinian refugees.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Bill Berkrot)
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