世卫组织撤回对穆加贝的亲善大使任命

The World Health Organization has abandoned its choice of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, as goodwill ambassador after an international outcry following the announcement.

世界卫生组织(WHO)撤销了选择津巴布韦总统罗伯特?穆加贝(Robert Mugabe)担任亲善大使的决定。此前这一任命在宣布后遭到了国际社会的强烈抗议。

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the Geneva-based organisation, said in a statement yesterday that he had “reflected” over the past few days on the suitability of Mr Mugabe for the position.

总部位于日内瓦的世卫组织的总干事谭德塞(Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus)昨日在一份声明中表示，过去几天他对穆加贝担任这一职位的合适性作了“反思”。

“As a result I have decided to rescind the appointment,” he said. Mr Tedros added that, after consultations with the government of Zimbabwe, “we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization”.

“结果我决定撤回任命，”他表示。谭德塞补充说，在与津巴布韦政府磋商后，“我们得出结论认为，这一决定符合世界卫生组织的最佳利益”。

The appointment of Mr Mugabe as goodwill ambassador for non-communicable diseases had provoked a fierce backlash from international human rights groups and a call from at least one politician to suspend WHO funding.

任命穆加贝为防治非传染性疾病亲善大使的决定，遭到了国际人权团体的激烈反对，还有至少一名政界人士呼吁暂停资助世卫组织。

The decision to name Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old leader had been seen by many as a big miscalculation by Mr Tedros, an Ethiopian who was elected the first African head of the WHO in May.

在很多人眼里，任命93岁的津巴布韦领导人的决定，是谭德塞的一个重大误判。埃塞俄比亚人谭德塞今年5月当选为世卫组织总干事，他是首位出任此职的非洲人。

Mr Tedros’s own appointment, though popular in Africa, was controversial. Critics questioned his fitness for the job in light of his participation, as health minister, in Ethiopia’s authoritarian government, as well as his alleged cover-up of a cholera epidemic.

谭德塞自己的任命虽然在非洲很受欢迎，但也是有争议的。鉴于他作为卫生部长时是埃塞俄比亚威权政府的一员，据称还曾掩盖霍乱疫情，批评者质疑他出任这一职务的合适性。

Before the WHO’s apparent reversal over Mr Mugabe, several health and public policy experts had urged Mr Tedros to think again. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said the decision to appoint Mr Mugabe was deeply disappointing and wrong, and called on Mr Tedros to reverse it.

世卫组织在任命穆加贝问题上改变决定之前，多名卫生和公共政策专家敦促谭德塞再好好想一想。维康信托(Wellcome Trust)基金会主任杰里米?法勒(Jeremy Farrar)表示，任命穆加贝的决定是令人深感失望和错误的，他呼吁谭德塞撤销这个决定。

“Robert Mugabe fails in every way to represent the values WHO should stand for?.?.?.?Brave leaders are willing to listen, rethink and overturn bad decisions; this is one such case,” he said.

“罗伯特?穆加贝在任何一个方面都无法代表世卫组织应该奉行的价值观……勇敢的领导人是愿意聆听、反思和推翻糟糕的决定的；这件事就是一个这样的情况，”他表示。

Mr Tedros said he welcomed the criticisms. “I depend on constructive debate to help and inform the work I have been elected to do,” he said.

谭德塞表示，他对这些批评表示欢迎。“对于我被选上来要做的工作，我依靠建设性的辩论来为这份工作提供帮助和启迪，”他说。

Mr Mugabe, who has run Zimbabwe for 37 years, has been widely condemned for human rights abuses and for presiding over the collapse of the country’s economy. Although he has won grudging praise for Zimbabwe’s partial success in countering the high prevalence of HIV-Aids, he has also been criticised for his strident opposition to homosexuality.

执掌津巴布韦已有37年的穆加贝，被广泛谴责为侵犯人权和搞垮国家经济。虽然津巴布韦在抗击艾滋病毒高感染率方面取得的部分成功使他勉强获得一些肯定，但他也因为严厉反对同性恋而受到批评。

Mr Tedros, who as Ethiopian health minister emphasised the importance of bringing basic healthcare to rural communities, has praised Mr Mugabe for running a country “that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide healthcare to all”. He said Zimbabwe’s leader, who remains popular in parts of Africa because of his defiant anti-colonial rhetoric, was ideally placed to “influence his peers”.

谭德塞在担任埃塞俄比亚卫生部长期间，曾经强调向农村地区提供基本医疗保健服务的重要性。此前他赞扬穆加贝领导的国家“将全民医疗覆盖和健康促进放在普及医疗服务政策的中心”。他表示，因为反殖民主义言论而在非洲一些地方仍享有较高人气的津巴布韦领导人，是“影响同仁们”的理想人选。