WHO Chief Criticizes Global Community’s Double Standards, Focus on Ukraine - Tasnim News Agency

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) criticized the global community’s focus on the war in Ukraine, arguing that crises elsewhere are not being given equal consideration internationally as the events in Ukraine.

During a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus questioned whether “the world really gives equal attention to black and white lives” given that ongoing emergencies in Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria had garnered only a “fraction” of the concern for Ukraine.

“I need to be blunt and honest that the world is not treating the human race the same way. Some are more equal than others. And when I say this, it pains me. Because I see it. Very difficult to accept but it’s happening,” the WHO boss pointed out.

The Russian military operation in Ukraine has been topping headlines everywhere around the globe for almost two months. It prompted the US, EU and their allies to slap draconian sanctions on Moscow and organize deliveries of weapons and humanitarian aid to Kiev. However, not such attention was given to the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen that has taken thousands of lives.

While the US has been providing the invading Arab coalition with all means of destroying an entire nation, the Saudi-led aggressors have been using them against purely residential areas and other civilian targets, but the world has never shown much attention to it.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been imposing a total blockade on Yemen since 2015 as part of their war of aggression, which seeks to reinstall a friendly regime there. They have failed to achieve that objective during the past seven years, but have brought about disastrous conditions in the country, which has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus continued that in his home country of Ethiopia, “in effect, the siege by the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces” of the breakaway region of Tigray continues.

People in Tigray are at risk of starvation due to not getting enough humanitarian aid and are treated harshly by their opponents, he pointed out. “People are being burned alive... because of their ethnicity... without any crime.”

But the bloody conflict, which has been underway since 2020 after the federal government launched a military operation against the rebel separatist group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), just doesn’t seem to interest the international community that much, according to the official.

“I hope the world comes back to its senses and treats all human life equally… because every life is precious,” he insisted.

It’s not the first time that Adhanom Ghebreyesus has sounded the alarm over inequality on a global scale.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, he slammed wealthy nations for hoarding vaccines for themselves and leaving poorer countries empty handed. Such behavior wasn’t just unfair, but also counterproductive in terms of tackling the spread of the virus, he said.