Despite the US’s announcement of withdrawal last year, WHO member states decided on Thursday to suspend the US’s ability to vote in the World Health Assembly starting in May 2027 if approximately $280 million in unpaid 2024–2025 dues are not paid, in a report by Health Policy Watch. After Iran cleaned up on its unpaid obligations, the suspension of its voting rights was actually avoided in the same resolution. Based on a congressional resolution from 1948, when the US joined WHO, the WHO member states won’t recognize the US’s exit until the back dues are paid, according to the decision made by Committee B at the World Health Assembly. According to the WHO’s officials, in simple words, they won’t recognize the withdrawal because the US hasn’t fulfilled the terms they created back in 1948, and as such, the US will still be recognized as a member until it pays off the money. And, if this stays until next year, there will be more unpaid dues required by the US for 2026. The decision by the American government to leave has cost the global health association by 21 percent, along with a significant increase in layoffs.
Related to this is the self-proclaimed departure of Argentina from the WHO, which has only very recently been addressed by the Assembly. This is significant because there are two competing and conflicting points of view on how to move forward. Paraguay created a proposal to formally recognize Argentina’s withdrawal, but another proposal supported by multiple countries is more apathetic toward the situation. It simply “takes note of the request from the UN legal counsel for a WHO clarification on the status of Argentina’s request to withdraw,” meaning the WHA doesn’t take any actual decision on what to do. Paraguay’s idea, however, represents a precedent due to the fact that the WHO has never formally accepted a departure in its history. For example, instead of recognizing the departure of several Soviet-controlled states in 1949 and 1950, they were treated as “inactive members” and were only re-admitted when they paid some of their membership dues.
Lastly, the US isn’t the only country with unpaid dues set to leave; this also extends to Burundi, Djibouti, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Turkmenistan, Timor-Leste, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe as of May 21st. Iran and Grenada were on the chopping block as well, but recently paid off all their dues, as mentioned previously. This further adds to the growing list of countries set to lose their voting privileges for the same reason, including but not limited to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia, Saint Lucia, Sudan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
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