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Trump announces US withdrawal from World Health Organization
President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, in a significant move that drew criticism from public health experts on his first day back in the White House.
Trump has long been critical of the United Nations’ health agency, and his administration formally began a withdrawal from the WHO in July 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to spread. But four years ago, then-President Joe Biden halted the US’ exit from the body tasked with coordinating the international response to health emergencies in one of his first actions after taking over the White House.
The text of Monday’s executive order cites the “organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” as reasons for the US withdrawal.
“That’s a big one,” Trump told an aide as he began to sign the executive order, pointing to his 2020 decision and his belief that the US was paying too much money to the organization compared to other countries. In 2020, Trump also consistently accused the organization of aiding China in allegedly covering up the origins of Covid-19 and allowing its spread.
CNN has reached out to the WHO for comment.
While lawmakers from both parties had criticized the WHO in 2020 when Trump first decided to pull out, many denounced the president’s decision to withdraw during a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time called it “an act of true senselessness.” And since-retired Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander — then-chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — said he disagreed with Trump’s decision.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as White House Covid-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration, called Trump’s decision to withdraw from the WHO in his second term a “strategic error.”
“WHO is a pretty essential organization — and with America’s withdrawal, it creates a political vacuum that only one country can fill — and that is China,” Jha said in an interview with CNN on Monday.
He predicted that China will step up for the organization in the absence of US funding and leadership, which could, in turn, “give China more political influence around the world.”
Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University, said in a post on X that Trump’s pulling out of the WHO is “the most momentous of all” of Trump’s executive actions Monday.
“It’s a cataclysmic presidential decision. Withdrawal is a grievous wound to world health, but a still deeper wound to the US,” he added.
Jha warned that withdrawing from the WHO weakens the organization because it relies heavily on US staff and expertise, particularly in tracking global influenza.
Trump’s executive action calls on the secretary of state and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to “pause the future transfer of any United States Government funds, support, or resources” for the WHO. However, it takes a year to fully withdraw from the body, and there is an obligation for the US to continue funding it for a year.
“But who’s going to enforce the obligation? Is Donald Trump going to be cowed by global norms around these things?” Jha asked.
Gostin, who is also the O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, said in a later post that the action is “riddled with legal & factual errors.”
“Trump isn’t waiting a year as Congress required. He’s unraveling US engagement & funding now. That’s unlawful & a grave strategic error,” he added.
CNN’s Jack Forrest and Meg Tirrell contributed to this report.
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Melania Trump is brimming with plans for second term
First lady Melania Trump is returning to the East Wing bolstered by lessons from four years in an unelected job she has privately acknowledged was a whirlwind of responsibilities of which she was largely unaware.
This time, she says, will be different.
President Donald Trump and his team are returning to office with a deeper understanding of how to use the levers of federal government to enact their agenda. Similarly, the first lady is signaling that she has learned from her first term and the subsequent four years — and that she is preparing to take on a more prominent role.
Melania Trump spent the two months between Election Day and Inauguration Day engaged in intense preparation for a return to the White House, sources told CNN, studying foreign affairs, preparing on her own and joining her husband for dinners with VIPs at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
This week, she returned to the world stage, saying little and seeing even less in a custom, wide-brimmed hat as her husband took his oath of office.
“It’s really clear that she has a confidence that we didn’t necessarily see the first time around. She understands not only what’s at stake for this administration, but what’s at stake for her,” said Kate Bennett, author of “Free, Melania” and a former journalist who extensively chronicled the first lady’s first term.
The notoriously private Trump has demonstrated an implicit recognition of the public’s curiosity about her — and that leaning into it could prove lucrative and strategic.
Her autobiography, published in October, remains a bestseller on Amazon and was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller when released. Shortly after the election, Amazon inked a multimillion-dollar licensing deal with Trump to film a documentary set for release later this year. There have been signs of documentary crews around the first lady during inaugural festivities. And on the eve of her husband’s inauguration, the incoming first lady unveiled an “official meme” available for purchase, a nonfungible token featuring a smiling photo of Trump, her hands partially obstructing her face.
It’s not unusual for modern first ladies to profit from the office, often publishing memoirs and hitting the public speaking circuit after leaving Washington. But Trump’s recent moves — before and during her husband’s second term — offer a break with precedent.
Trump has also participated in multiple friendly interviews with Fox News in recent months, underscoring a first lady more amenable to satiating public interest and perhaps enjoying her popularity.
The first lady, who was largely absent from the 2024 campaign trail, is expected to divide her time over the next four years between Washington, Palm Beach and New York, and will be present at the White House for major events. She will have her own platform and priorities, telling Fox News she plans to reboot her “Be Best” initiative. She also remains a constant voice in her husband’s ear.
Like her first term, Trump has indicated she will have a small East Wing staff compared with many of her modern predecessors. Hayley Harrison, an aide during her first East Wing tour, will be her chief of staff.
“I have a few positions that I still need to hire. I will not rush into that. … I don’t want to hire too many people on my team and spend too much taxpayer money,” Trump told Fox News earlier this month.
Trump offered an early visual preview of her second tour in Washington on Monday, holding the Lincoln Bible and a family Bible as her husband took the oath of office, and joining him throughout the day’s ceremonies and celebrations.
Her navy double-breasted coat and matching hat, which limited visibility of her reactions throughout the day, underscored that Trump is “getting down to business,” Bennett said.
Trump expressed a wish that “people would focus on what I do, not what I wear” in a 2018 interview with CNN during a trip to Egypt. But she knows “they’re going to do it anyway,” Bennett said.
“Might as well send a message of, ‘I’m serious this time, not messing around — and let’s get to it.’”
Things may also be different for the first lady this time because her eldest stepdaughter, Ivanka Trump, will no longer have a West Wing office and senior adviser title, clearing up some of the ambiguity among the first family during the first term. Ivanka Trump has expressed her intention to leave politics entirely as she seeks a more private life in Miami, though she still provides her father counsel in a behind-the-scenes capacity.
“With the absence of Ivanka, Melania may feel more empowered to be the female figurehead of this administration,” Bennett said.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
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UN experts urge Thailand not to deport dozens of Uyghurs to China where they face ‘real risk of torture’
International pressure is mounting on Thailand – including from the new US administration – over the fate of dozens of Uyghur men held in detention for more than a decade, following reports the Thai government planned to deport the group to China.
United Nations experts on Tuesday urged Thailand to “immediately halt the possible transfer,” warning the men were at “real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if they are returned.”
Concerns for the 48 men, who have been detained in Bangkok since 2014, are growing after a Uyghur activist shared a voice note from one of the detainees, who said the men had been on hunger strike since January 10 in a desperate protest against deportation.
Arslan Hidayat, an activist working with Justice for All’s Save Uyghur campaign, told CNN he understands the men remained on hunger strike as of Tuesday.
“We are desperately seeking help from those living in the free world,” the detainee said in a voice note that Hidayat published to Instagram. “You all know what will happen to us if we are sent back to China. This is our plea for help from your 48 brothers in Thailand.”
The 48 men were arrested by Thai authorities 11 years ago after crossing the border to Thailand in an attempt to escape persecution in China. They were part of a larger group of about 350 people detained at the time, some of whom were minors, according to previous reports from UN experts, rights groups, and Uyghur campaigners.
Five Uyghur detainees, including a newborn and a 3-year-old, have died in detention, the reports said.
Human rights groups and campaigners say that in the years since, the men have been held in “in life-threatening conditions” without access to lawyers, family members or UN representatives. Human Rights Watch said the men were living in “squalid conditions with poor hygiene and inadequate medical care.”
Related articleUS blocks imports from 26 Chinese textile firms over suspected Uyghur forced labor
“We are informed that 23 of the 48 individuals suffer from serious health conditions, including diabetes, kidney dysfunction, paralysis of the lower body, skin diseases, gastrointestinal illnesses, and heart and lung conditions,” the eight UN experts said Tuesday. They include the UN special rapporteurs on torture and on migrants’ human rights, and other independent human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
“It is essential they be provided with the necessary and appropriate medical care,” the UN experts added.
Fears the 48 would be imminently transferred to Chinese custody arose on January 8 when Thai authorities reportedly gave the detainees “voluntary return” documents to sign, according to the Save Uyghur campaign. Detainees told the group their photos were taken and reported an increase in threats of deportation from officials in the immigration detention center.
Thai officials have denied plans to deport the Uyghurs, according to local media. CNN has reached out to Thai police and the country’s defense minister for comment.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday: “The matter involves judicial cooperation between two sovereign states.”
UN experts should abide by the principle of the UN charter and “refrain from interfering with the judicial sovereignty of the member states … rather than making irresponsible remarks,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.
Long persecuted minority
The predominately Muslim Uyghurs are a distinct ethnic minority from Xinjiang, a massive, nominally autonomous region in the far west of China.
China’s repression of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang has been labeled “genocide” by the US and other countries, with widespread and credible reports of arbitrary detention, mass surveillance, forced labor and restrictions on movement – allegations China vehemently denies.
A landmark 2022 report from the UN’s high commissioner for human rights said China had committed “serious human rights violations” against the Uyghurs, documenting what it described as arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominately Muslim groups.
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At the time, more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples were estimated to be held in extrajudicial camps for “re-education” and indoctrination. Descriptions of detentions “were marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the UN report found.
China has fiercely denied committing rights violations. It has previously said it established such centers to counter “extremism” in the region, and has since said the facilities were closed.
A letter from the 48 detainees dated January 10 said: “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from this tragic fate before it is too late.”
Human Rights Watch said they face “risks of enforced disappearance, long-term imprisonment, torture, and other severe mistreatment,” if they are forcibly repatriated.
Pressure on Thailand
Among the prominent voices adding pressure on Thailand was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told his Senate confirmation hearing ahead of being sworn in Tuesday that he would lobby Bangkok against deporting the Uyghur men.
“Thailand is actually a very strong US partner, strong historical ally as well,” Rubio said. “That is an area where I think diplomacy could really achieve results because of how important that relationship (is) and how close it is.”
Meanwhile, John Moolenarr, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, wrote a letter to Thailand’s Ambassador to the US last week expressing his alarm over the reports and urged the government to release the men to a third country.
The UN experts also called on Thailand, which is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, to respect its obligations under international law.
Related articleChinese dissident ‘stranded’ in Taiwan airport pleads for asylum in US or Canada
“The prohibition on refoulement prohibits the return or transfer in any manner whatsoever to a country where there is real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” they said.
The Southeast Asian kingdom is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not recognize the concept of asylum. Thailand has a history of pushing refugees back across its borders and of deporting dissidents.
In 2015, Thailand deported 100 Uyghurs to China, sparking international outcry. The fate and whereabouts of those returned are unknown, UN experts said last year.
In the same move, more than 170 Uyghur women and children were voluntarily transferred to Turkey. Many families were separated, including those of the men still in detention in Thailand.
“We call for a prompt, effective investigation, and assessment of all the circumstances of the arrest and continued deprivation of liberty of this group of persons,” the UN experts said Tuesday.
CNN’s Kocha Olarn contributed to this report from Bangkok, Thailand.