[Ip-health] Bangkok Post: USG behind removal of WHO rep to Thailand

[Asia Russell]

The Bangkok Post
June 20 2006

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/20Jun2006_news03.php

STRING PULLING / ALDIS WARNED AGAINST THAI-US FREE TRADE PACT

US 'behind' WHO official's ouster

POST REPORTERS

 Washington was behind the abrupt removal of a World Health Organisation
representative to Thailand after he wrote of possible adverse impacts to
Thailand of a free trade agreement with the US, a source said yesterday.

 In an article published in the Bangkok Post on Jan 9, William Aldis urged
Thailand to think carefully before inking the FTA pact with the US, saying
that restrictive intellectual property rights under the bilateral trade
agreement would prevent Thailand from using affordable locally produced
generic drugs.

 He said anti-viral HIV drugs would be extremely expensive after the FTA
went into force.

 The critical piece was published as the sixth round of Thai-US FTA
negotiations took place in Chiang Mai.

 In March, the late WHO director-general Lee Jong-wook decided to transfer
Mr Aldis to a research position in New Delhi.

 The Asia Times Online website ran an investigative report about the
transfer of Mr Aldis on Saturday.

 The report said the removal of the WHO representative reflected powerful US
influence on the international body.

 The report quotes an unnamed WHO source as saying Lee decided to recall Mr
Aldis shortly after a US ambassador to the UN in Geneva paid a private visit
to Lee on March 23 to express Washington's displeasure with Mr Aldis'
article in the Bangkok Post.

 The US government also asked Lee to remind senior WHO officials to "remain
neutral and objective", it said.

 The report said Suwit Wibulpolprasert, a senior adviser to the Public
Health Ministry, had sent a letter to WHO headquarters earlier this month
requesting an explanation for the abrupt removal of Mr Aldis.

 In an interview with the Bangkok Post, the current WHO representative to
Thailand, P.T. Jayawickramarajah, who succeeded Mr Aldis, declined to
comment on the transfer, saying the rotation of staff was conducted on a
regular basis.

 "I don't know about the reason behind the abrupt removal of Mr Aldis," Mr
Jayawickramarajah said yesterday.

 "According to the employment contract, WHO officials can be assigned to any
place in the world and we have to follow the instructions. I don't think
that Mr Aldis would be shocked," he added.

 Reports about US influence on the WHO would not affect his freedom to
express an opinion, he added.

 FTAWatch, a group campaigning against Thailand's free trade agreements,
yesterday issued a statement condemning the US government's alleged
intervention in WHO affairs.

 The group called on the WHO to "revise its position and liberate the
organisation from Washington's influence".

 "How can the WHO protect the rights of the people to fair public health
care if the organisation surrenders to an influential nation?" the group
said in the statement.

 FTAWatch called on the WHO to "protect the freedom of expression" of its
officials who bravely act to protect the interest of developing countries.

--
Asia Russell
Health GAP
asia@healthgap.org
tel +1 267 475 2645
http://www.healthgap.org