After Outcry, UN WHO Rescinds Honors for Genocidal Tyrant Mugabe

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Tone-deaf communist leaders of the World Health Organization (WHO) offered the post of “Goodwill Ambassador” to one of the world’s most murderous dictators, the genocidal Marxist-Leninist Robert Mugabe (shown) enslaving Zimbabwe. After sparking a massive global outcry, though, the bewildered agency chief, a fellow African communist, was forced to withdraw the controversial nomination. Still, the fact that a communist mass-murderer was offered the post at the United Nations agency, and the fact that the agency is itself dominated by communists, sheds additional light on why the American movement to dismantle the UN is surging in popularity. Outside watchdogs are calling for a full investigation into how such an absurd development could have taken place. Unfortunately, though, to longtime observers of the UN, honoring a murderous tyrant was hardly surprising — Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, after all, was selected to lead the UN “Human Rights Commission!”

The latest scandal began when recently installed WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, an actual communist from a murderous communist political party, announced Mugabe’s appointment at a conference on noncommunicable diseases in Uruguay. According to Ghebreyesus, the mass-murdering tyrant was supposed to help advocate for fighting diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Incredibly, at least to those outside the UN-globalist-communist bubble, Ghebreyesus even praised the tyrant’s regime as one that “places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.” He also touted Mugabe’s alleged “strong commitment to health.” Similar absurdities are parroted by UN officials when speaking about the murderous communist regime in Cuba, which had its minion installed as president of the WHO’s decision-making World Health Assembly. Obviously, Mugabe’s propaganda organs at home celebrated the move and suggested it was another “feather” in the brutal tyrant’s “cap.”

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The reaction around the world was swift, with fierce condemnation coming from the U.S. State Department, human rights groups, and more. Dozens of non-profit organizations dealing with health and human rights released statements condemning and ridiculing the WHO leader. Even the Noncommunicable Diseases Alliance, which reportedly represents many of those attending the conference where the announcement was made, said it was “shocked and deeply concerned to hear of this appointment, given President Mugabe’s long track record of human-rights violations and undermining the dignity of human beings.” In an e-mail, one former UN insider turned whistleblower, citing Mugabe’s appointment, said that it was so far beyond ridiculous, he could not think of any reason why Hollywood predator Harvey Weinstein should not be appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador for Women’s Rights. The Islamist regime in Saudi Arabia, was, in fact, put on the UN Status of Women Panel.

Ironically, the Mugabe regime’s so-called “healthcare” system has already been exposed as a total nightmare. In 2008, for example, the non-profit group Physicians for Human Rights released a report documenting the abominable “health” system and the “man-made crisis” there unleashed by Zimbabwe’s brutal dictator. “The government of Robert Mugabe presided over the dramatic reversal of its population’s access to food, clean water, basic sanitation and health care,” the report found. “The Mugabe regime has used any means at its disposal, including politicizing the health sector, to maintain its hold on power.” The report also documented how Mugabe’s policies led to the closing of hospitals and clinics, the closing of its medical schools, and brutal beatings of health workers. Between 2006 and 2011, maternal mortality rates almost doubled in Zimbabwe. Mugabe himself regularly travels abroad to obtain his own healthcare.

Even oppressed Zimbabweans ridiculed the UN WHO decision. “That is absolutely absurd,” said Salani Mutseyami, a spokeswoman for the campaign groups Zimbabwe Vigil and Restoration of Human Rights. It shows the lack of interest that the UN might have towards what is really going on in Zimbabwe. “If the leader has to jet off to another country to get medical attention that shows you he cannot get that in Zimbabwe. The whole health system is in tatters. So I don’t know what political games are being played by the United Nations when they give such a man a platform.” Doctors in Zimbabwe quoted in international media reports, who asked not to be named for security reasons, noted that Zimbabwe’s hospitals do not even have medicine or equipment. In many cases, they do not even have electricity or food.

After days of intense ridicule and criticism, WHO’s communist chief, Ghebreyesus, announced that the decision to make Mugabe the goodwill ambassador had been rescinded. “I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised,” he said, careful not to apologize or expose his communist comrade’s well-documented record of brutality. “I have also consulted with the Government of Zimbabwe [sic] and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization. It is my aim to build a worldwide movement for global health. This movement must work for everyone and include everyone…. I remain firmly committed to working with all countries and their leaders to ensure that every one has access to the health care they need.”

In fairness to Ghebreyesus, though, Mugabe does have plenty of admirers among his fellow tyrants, especially on his home continent. So beloved is the tyrant among his comrades in Africa, for example, that he was allowed in 2015 to become “Chairman” of the dictator-dominated, Communist Chinese-backed “African Union.” At a ceremony celebrating the development at the African Union headquarters (financed by the regime in Beijing), then-UN boss Ban Ki-moon even offered his blessing to the absurd spectacle. Incredibly, at the confab, Mugabe touted his ethnic cleansing campaign, in which white farmers were brutally evicted from their land — and in many cases tortured and murdered — as a model for Africa to follow. He also vowed to tackle “climate change,” “gender equality,” and “terrorism.”

Before that ethnic cleansing program targeting white farmers who had lived there for generations, Mugabe and his regime worked to exterminate fellow black Africans over tribal disputes. After coming to power with support from disgraced U.S. President Jimmy Carter, his cohort Henry “New World Order” Kissinger, the globalist establishment, the UN, and the murderous regime in North Korea, among others, one of Mugabe’s first acts was a horrific campaign of mass-murder, terror, and extermination aimed at the Ndebele people in the Southern region of the country. Tens of thousands were slaughtered in what has widely been described as a genocide. Some estimates put the number of dead as high as 80,000. And yet, Mugabe still has friends in brutal regimes and UN agencies all over the world.

Critics of the WHO move called for an investigation. “There must be more to the story. How could Dr. Tedros, a sophisticated political figure, have chosen to honor a man who has brutalized human rights activists, crushed democracy dissidents, and turned the breadbasket of Africa and its health system into a basket-case?” asked UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. “We regret that Dr. Tedros’ statement shows no remorse, nor any mention of Mugabe’s gross human rights abuses. On the contrary, he seems to double down and justify his decision by speaking of the need to -include everyone,- presumably tyrants as well. We ask Dr. Tedros to agree to a meeting in Geneva of victims of Mugabe, which we will gladly organize, giving the WHO chief a chance to compensate for the damage he has done to the cause of human rights in Zimbabwe. He should now honor the victims, instead of the perpetrator.”

“The tyrant of Zimbabwe is the last person who should have been legitimized by a UN position of any kind,” added Neuer. “Something is very ill at the UN’s world health agency.” Of course, the UN’s “health” agency is not alone.

One of the few real journalists at UN headquarters, Matthew Lee with Inner City Press, noted that the attempted appointment of Mugabe was symptomatic of far deeper problems. “That Tedros tried to give this post to Mugabe is one thing. But Antonio Guterres is ostensibly the leader of the UN system,” Lee told The New American. “He’s been silent here, as he was was silent when Inner City Press asked repeatedly about WIPO’s Francis Gurry working on North Korea cyanide patents and retaliating against WIPO staff and the media. Most recently, Guterres’ Department of Public Information has made another threat to Inner City Press’ accreditation, based on accurate reporting of what his officials say. Mugabe at WHO is just one example in the UN system.”

Numerous current and former WHO officials have contacted The New American over the years to highlight the incredible corruption and mismanagement that permeates the UN “health” agency. Among those whistleblowers is Kari Laperriere, author of WHOligans: A witness account of fraud and bullying at the heart of the World Health Organization, who has exposed the “dark secrets” of WHO hiding behind “a respectable façade and the words of noble principles.” Laperriere, who spent decades working inside the UN, has sought to expose bullying and fraud perpetrated from the very top of the UN outfit, including by recently departed Chinese WHO boss Margaret Chan.

Chan has become widely known in international circles as a Chinese Communist agent who tried to amass power and conceal brutal communist crimes such as Beijing’s organ harvesting program. Lapierre, though, pointed out that Chan campaigned for the top WHO job in 2006 on a platform of accountability, transparency, and fairness. “She turned out to be one of the most totalitarian, immoral and incompetent leaders in the UN System,” Laperriere said, wondering whether Ghebreyesus’ administration of WHO would be similar to Chan’s. “All I say is backed up by evidence on my website,” she continued. “I have reached out to the new Director General … and offered to provide him with any evidence and information in my possession.” He has not yet responded, Laperriere said.

But the problems are systemic, and they are costing taxpayers huge sums. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has criminals on payroll,” Laperriere explained, citing numerous examples in high places. “WHO is the world’s highest normative expert on health and occupational health, and preaches to the world what is right and what is wrong. However the WHO management fails miserably and with impunity when it comes to practicing those same standards… Members of management who enjoy the full protection of the Director General can pretty much do as they please because they are not held accountable within the organization and can claim immunity protection from local police authorities.” Those who attempt to ensure that rules and ethics are followed end up being punished by “criminal management,” she added.

Another former insider who reached out to The New American for help exposing the lawless UN agency was Fila Paragas, who suggested there was widespread malfeasance across multiple areas of WHO’s work such as essential drugs policy, vaccine policies, human resources, and more. Among other concerns, she highlighted the “gender problem,” whereby appointments are made based on “gender” rather than qualification. As one example, she highlighted the case of a senior position filled by a woman over a more qualified man due to scheming by former WHO boss Gro Harlem Brundtland, a leading luminary in the “sustainability” agenda. The former WHO employee offered numerous names of people involved in shady dealings at the UN agency, but despite her efforts to blow the whistle, she said nobody is interested in pursuing justice.

Paragas also noted that the WHO Global Board of Appeals provides “fake justice” for staff who are not well-connected. Blasting the “waste” of taxpayer money, she said the outfit only pretends to review for fairness and justice. “It has to be eliminated,” she said, citing “immunity and impunity for abusers and no accountability.” “The abusers get promotions instead,” she added.

Finally, Paragas pointed out that the WHO’s decision-making “Executive Board” includes numerous murderous and totalitarian regimes, including, until 2016, even the mass-murdering communist dictatorship enslaving the people of North Korea. Numerous other brutal communist and Islamist regimes serve on the 34-member board including the ones ruling Communist China, Eritrea, Nepal, Pakistan, and even Saudi Arabia until last year. Virtually every other UN agency — including the discredited UN “Human Rights Council” — has the exact same problem. And yet American taxpayers continue to pay more than the next 185 nations combined for the farce.

The WHO is clearly a sick organization. As The New American reported in late 2014, it was even caught by Catholic doctors using a “vaccine program” as what was widely described as a “covert sterilization” program in Kenya. The news came after the UN had recently released a report calling for drastic population reduction in Kenya. Chan, its former boss until recently, has also attracted global criticism for corruption, providing cover for the savage organ-harvesting program of the regime in Beijing, attacking freedom of the press, pushing global taxes, and more. WHO has also been trying to amass as much power as possible, even claiming the authority to quarantine entire nations, develop global “mental health” standards, undermine parental rights, and more. It was also accused of concocting a phony “pandemic” to help Big Pharma cronies sell vaccines. And that is just what the public knows about.

The Trump administration just announced that the U.S. government would be withdrawing from UNESCO, the corrupt, communist-led UN agency trying to centralize and standardize global indoctrination under the guise of “education.” Perhaps the corrupt, communist-led WHO would be a good candidate for the next “Amexit” from an international bureaucracy. However, the only sustainable solution to neutralizing the UN threat is a complete U.S. withdrawal from the dictators club. Fortunately, legislation to do that, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act (H.R. 193), is already sitting in Congress. Americans concerned about the UN’s totalitarian agenda can use the attempted appointment of Mugabe as one additional talking point while educating fellow citizens and elected officials on the need for an Amexit. Nothing less will protect U.S. freedom and independence.

Photo of Robert Mugabee: UN

Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe but has lived all over the world, including in Africa. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU or on Facebook. He can be reached at [email protected].