After a year-long effort, European countries managed to get the World Health Organization (WHO) to move one of its main offices, which until now was located in Moscow, writes Politico.
On Monday, the 15th of May, a special session of the WHO European Regional Committee was convened, which was initiated by all European Union countries (except Hungary), as well as Iceland, Norway, Great Britain, and Ukraine. During the session, countries finally reached a decision to close the WHO European office for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in Moscow. It will be moved and will operate in Copenhagen from the 1st of January, 2024.
Such a decision is significant for the WHO, as
the organization has tried to maintain political neutrality.
European countries that advocated for the office’s relocation wrote in April that the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on public health in Ukraine and elsewhere remains a matter of utmost importance.
The majority of the present countries voted for the relocation of the office, and the vote took place almost a year after the start of the procedure.
Last October, the staff of the Moscow office was inconspicuously moved out of Russia,
and a handful of Russian WHO staff and 11 consultants are left in the office.
Previously, the special session of the European Regional Committee took place only twice – in 1954, when the WHO was founded, and in 2022, when the countries began to discuss the relocation of the Moscow office.
The WHO will help six Russian citizens currently working in Moscow to find other jobs at the UN or local organizations.
Denmark announced that 12 countries will jointly create a fund of 5.6 million dollars annually to offset the funds that Russia devoted to organizing the work of the Moscow office.