Young Fine Gael calls on the Irish Government to support Taiwanese participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA)  

  • The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 76th World Health Assembly will shortly convene in Geneva, Switzerland from May 21st to May 30th 2023.
  • Young Fine Gael calls on the Irish Government to support Taiwan’s request to participate within the WHO and extend observer status to Taiwan.

From the beginning on the Covid-19 pandemic, having a strong WHO in conjunction with regional agencies such as the CDC in the United States and the ECDC in the EU is vital to global public health and wellbeing, championing initiatives including the global COVAX vaccine distribution scheme, making vaccines readily available for all.

Unfortunately, not all countries are members of the WHO, for several years China has protested the inclusion of Taiwan from the WHO. As we have seen, epidemics do not have national borders and affect all. Therefore, it is vital for WHO to include members from across the world sharing information and fostering greater collaboration and information sharing.

Taiwan has been a global leader in its approach towards the COVID-19 pandemic, having some of the lowest case numbers in the world and its experience in slowing down and preventing infection rates should be shared globally to ensure best practices are followed. This is in dire contrast to the draconian measures imposed by the Chinese government including forcing citizens to COVID detention centres.

President of Young Fine Gael, Eoghan Gallagher commented:

“YFG has a proud track record of supporting Taiwan in its pursuit of democratic freedom and international recognition. Including a jurisdiction that shares a tradition of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in our institutions and organisations makes common sense.”

“Global public health should not be politicised and Taiwan’s inclusion within the WHO will only strengthen global public health and our preparedness for future health crises” he said.

ENDS

 

Note to Editors:

  • The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States.
  • The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organisation, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget.
  • Members of the YFG International Committee have met with Taiwanese Representative Pierre Wang and are preparing a position paper on Ireland and it’s relationship with China.

 

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