Thread by @HillelNeuer

BREAKING: North Korea, a regime that starves its own people, was just elected to the @WHO Executive Board. No joke: apps.who.int/gb/gov/en/comp…

2/ What this means is that one of the world's most horrific regimes is now a part of a group that sets and enforces the standards and norms for the global governance of health care. It is an absurd episode for a key U.N. agency that is in much need of self-reflection and reform.

3/ North Korea's regime allows its people to die of starvation while they spend billions on nuclear weapons.

As a member of the WHO Executive Board for the next three year, Kim Jong Un will help set the agency's agenda and implement its policies.
wsj.com/articles/north…

4/ North Korea was elected, in a slate with the other nominees, by a secret ballot: 123 nations voting yes, 13 abstentions and 6 spoiled ballots; 35 countries were absent. Normally the elections are by consensus, but Russia challenged Ukraine's nomination, and so a vote was held.

5/ The right signal from the U.N. to the North Korean regime would be an overdue referral to the International Criminal Court, not an election to an organization that sets the standards for global health.

6/ The truth is that scores of North Korean regime actors, from Kim Jong-un to low-level guards, should be investigated and prosecuted for committing some of the most heinous crimes against humanity ever documented in modern times. This is what the U.N. should be advancing.

7/ North Korea defends election to WHO leadership role, says it “will contribute to the noble work of the WHO and its mission for the promotion of the health and well-being of all people across the world, as well as the successful functioning of both of the executive board and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

8/ As a member of the Executive Board, the regime of North Korea will for the next three years share power in deciding the fate of regional directors, as recently happened in March when a director was accused of racism, harassment, and bullying of staff.
healthpolicy-watch.news/executive-boar…