We are writing to request that the Italian government and the governments of the EU Member States review and, if necessary, redefine, the funds allocated to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and intervene for the purpose of restructuring its organisation and reformulating its mission and original objectives, today disregarded, with a view to making its bureaucratic organisation leaner, its decision-making processes transparent and its employees accountable for their decisions and actions. We request that choices be fostered which promote the scientific method and the free choice of citizens, overcoming the current ideological approach dictated by countries hostile to liberal democracy and by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are contrary to individual responsibility.

The World Health Organisation is betraying its mission and our trust. Rather than dealing with health emergencies and increasing basic levels of health protection, it has developed into an ideological corporation that professes to determine the fate of us citizens through non-transparent decision-making processes responding to often dubious compromises.

The WHO declares an annual budget of over $4.4 billion, in addition to flexible funding worth another $1.5 billion. Italy is the WHO’s 7th largest funder, behind the USA, China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. But how is our money spent?

For several reasons, Italy and the other EU Member States must demand greater transparency from the WHO in its decision-making processes and greater accountability for the consequences these decisions can have on us citizens. Here the main ones:

1. The decision-making and management processes are not subject to the direct control of its contributors;
2. The untransparent management of funds received by the WHO leaves many doubts. 53% of the so-called “mandatory” funds and indeed 71% of the “voluntary” funds are allocated to the staff and administration budget with many episodes of waste of money. For instance, €28,500 are spent every year on travel costs for each staff member employed;
3. The management of the Covid-19 emergency has revealed underhanded conduct, attitudes and practices. WHO failed in its management of the prevention and containment phase, also being slow in declaring the emergency situation even when the progression of the disease was clear for all to see and its hazardousness known. Finally, it mainly followed the Chinese line, without checking any alternatives to containment;
4. Many campaigns promoted by the WHO are not producing measurable benefits for human health, but rather damage the economy, contradict the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), undermine personal freedom of choice and betray the scientific method. Competere has drawn the attention of the Italian government and the European Commission to the WHO’s ideological opposition to sugar, reporting that the freedom-destroying policies promoted not only do not solve the problem of obesity but indeed worsen it, undermining individual liberties;
5. WHO has a long tradition of positions and policies hostile to the protection of intellectual property, which have damaged entire industrial sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry, one of the greatest contributors to the Italian economy, and millions of people would have received effective and innovative drugs, vaccines and treatments more rapidly without such iniquitous choices;
6. The WHO does not permit dissent or criticism. Over the years we have witnessed deplorable conduct by the organisation’s staff and directors. The most notable case concerns the latest editions of the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control). Journalists, representatives of associations and the third sector and representatives of industry were forcefully removed from the conference locations, which should instead be open to debate by all stakeholders.

Why should the Italian citizens, who today are required to make further sacrifices, continue to fund an organisation that has betrayed its mission, does not accept responsibility for its decisions and is run by bureaucrats who use our funds without any accountability?

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