Shashi Tharoor’s idea to limit the term of the WHO chief resonates with experts⁠— and they would like to see the same in WTO and UN too

^{Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus/Twitter}

• The World Health Organisation has been caught in controversies amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
• US has accused the multi-lateral platform for health initiatives for acting as China’s ‘proxy’.
  
• In a conversation with Business Insider, Parag Khanna, Managing Partner at Future Map and Samir Saran, President of Observer Research Foundation explained the kind of reforms WHO needed to bring to become politically unbiased.
  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been under fire from the West ever since the coronavirus outbreak. US President Donald Trump accused the WHO of siding with China and even threatened to hold back its funding.

There are more experts chiming in and calling for a fixed term for the WHO chief to avoid political partisanship in the future⁠— an idea floated by Shashi Tharoor, an Indian Parliamentarian and a former Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations (UN).

“I think Shashi Tharoor gave a good idea that day that if you limit the term of the head of the organization to one term, make it six years. They have, once they come into the office, they have no need to serve anyone,” said Samir Saran, the President of a leading Indian think tank, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), in a conversation with Business Insider.

According to Parag Khanna, Managing Partner at Future Map, term limits are easier to implement in an international organisation. “Term limits should be bristle across all of the multilateral block. Much easier to implement, quite frankly in international organizations than I know in our own national politics,” Khanna said.

WHO caught in the tug of war between Washington and Beijing

According to Trump, WHO took China’s claims about the coronavirus “at face value” and had failed to share information about the pandemic as it spread. “A bad management doesn't mean a bad institution, I think who needs to be radically reformed, revived, and knowledgeable to serve communities, not serve the interests for one actor. My problem with that. It was captured by China to serve its propaganda needs,”

Tedros praised China’s efforts against the pandemic out loud while on the other hand, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited an enormous evidence of a cover-up by China. Trump’s adviser Peter Navarro accused WHO’s president Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of being one of Beijing’s proxies. The rising tension between the US and China has rattled global markets this week.

The spillover effect on the likes of WTO and UN
According to Saran, every political leadership in a multinational institution will be swayed by some political power because the leadership is dependent on being re-elected on that political power.

By limiting the term, the person doesn't have to serve anyone to be re-elected, he can serve the institution and the people he's meant to, Saran explained.


See also:
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China is injecting millions into the WHO as the US cuts funds. Experts say Beijing is trying to boost its influence over the agency and its 'deeply compromised' chief
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