Argentina to sue WHO director for crimes against humanity
Argentine President Javier Milei will seek to put the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in the dock for his management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the repercussions over Argentina's announcement to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), it was learned on Thursday that President Javier Milei is considering filing a complaint against Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity committed during his management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Milei's government would invoke Article 7 of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Specifically, it would cite a section that refers to slavery "by suppression of the right to property of persons."
As explained by journalist Cristina Perez, Argentina will argue that the citizens were subjected to conditions of slavery due to measures such as confinement from mandatory quarantines, dependence on public subsidies, and the economic hardships caused by those policies.
The Milei Administration will also investigate the local response to the pandemic. Under scrutiny will be his predecessor, the Peronist Alberto Fernandez, and some of his main advisors.
Argentina closes the door to the WHO
The revelation comes just hours after the South American country announced that it will withdraw from the WHO.
Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni explained at the time that the decision was due to "profound differences regarding health management, especially in the pandemic."
"We Argentines are not going to allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health," he explained.
Milei thus followed in the footsteps of Donald Trump, who signed a decree for the United States to stop collaborating with the agency. Both presidents agree in their criticism of the WHO pandemic response, in addition to other multilateral agencies.
The libertarian president had made these positions clear on previous occasions, for example speaking out against the United Nations on the main podium of its New York headquarters, voting against several resolutions at the General Assembly and withdrawing the Argentine delegation from the COP 29 climate conference.
In recent hours, in conversation with the French newspaper Le Point, the president said he was also considering following Trump's decision to leave the Paris Agreement.