World’s focus on Ukraine over conflicts in Africa is ‘racist’ says WHO boss
15 April 2022, 07:13
The head of the WHO has criticised global focus on Ukraine saying it shows the lack of ‘equal attention to black and white lives’.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech that other crises such as that in his home country of Ethiopia have not sparked the same level of international concern as Putin’s war.
He highlighted emergencies in Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria and said they have only received a ‘fraction’ of the attention of Ukraine.
Last month, he said there is “nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat” than Ethiopia's Tigray region.
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He said about 2,000 trucks should have been able to bring aid to the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia since a truce was declared three weeks ago, but only about 20 had arrived.
He acknowledged the war in UKraine was globally significant, but said: “I need to be blunt and honest that the world is not treating the human race the same way,” he said. “Some are more equal than others.”
Tedros described the situation in Tigray as tragic and said he “hopes the world comes back to its senses and treats all human life equally”.
He accused the media of not properly documenting atrocities in Ethiopia, referring to atrocities where people had been burned alive. “I don’t even know if that was taken seriously by the media,” he said.
Earlier this year the Ethiopian government sent a letter to the WHO accusing Tedros of “misconduct” after his sharp criticism of the war and humanitarian crisis in the country.
