A communication video of the World Health Organization Office in Damascus, showing its staff on a latino rhythm, has been withdrawn from social networks after providing indignation.
by
Life seems soft to Damascus, capital of a country shredded by ten years of war. Everything is so good that the Syrian Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) can embark on a filmed choreography. Start on a roof and dance, smile, to the sound of Latin music. Even his representative, the Turkmene Akjemal Magtymova, lends itself. The staging ends with a flag of the UN or hand syria.
This video, broadcast on October 27 on social networks, was supposed to celebrate United Nations Day. The message is best incomprehensible, in any case with the situation with the situation: the Syrian population lives an economic calvary in the midst of the ruins, the weapons still consider in some pockets of the country and the bombing of the Proregime forces regularly pound the insurrected enclave of the ‘Idlib.
The delegation of the WHO in Syria quickly reversed. On Twitter, she justified to have wanted to “promote solidarity, determination and a healthier future for all”. But the team removed the clip a few hours after it postpone, after “reactions” according to which the sequence “did not best represent the desired message”.
“This video shows the lightness of approach, by these people, the situation in Syria, their way of seeing the conflict. As if it were a natural disaster, which did not involve the Destruction of the social fabric “, criticizes the Syrian expert Bassel Kaghadou, located in Beirut, where he works as a consultant for the United Nations.
Disconnected realities
WHO dance steps have also grown teeth in other UN offices in Damascus. A familiar diplomatic source of Syria judges the approach “not very malignant. It sounds like a small gift to the regime”. A previous representative of the WHO delegation in Syria, Elizabeth Hoff, was already illustrated in 2016 by warning against the dangers of tobacco as if it were a priority under the bombs. Without a word for the deprivations imposed on the rebel areas, then besieged by the regime.
This last failed is not likely to redo the image of the UN from a good part of the Syrians, which reproach it to be disconnected from realities. In neighboring countries, refugees criticize bureaucracy, and opponents have been accusing the United Nations for years to submit to the desiderata of Syrian power. It is he who authorizes access to the field, supervises the recruitment of local staff and issues – or not – visas to expatriates. Agencies defended this approach on behalf of pragmatism: acting with the poor, regardless of the cost. But several officials left the country by denouncing compromises.
According to Kaghadou, some of the United Nations offices perform a good field work, but it denounces “the adoption by some UN officials in Syria since 2011 from the narrative of the regime, or by conviction, Because they live in a closed vase and do not have other benchmarks. To change their approach, it takes courage and will “. Times do not seem to be very conducive: Arab countries, such as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, are getting closer to Damascus. And some European countries are now wondering about the way forward.