Faced with the dilemma of who to recognise as Myanmar's legitimate representative following February's coup, World Health Organization members opted Wednesday to exclude the country from their annual assembly.

The 74th World Health Assembly had received requests from both Myanmar's ousted civilian authorities and the military junta that seized power nearly four months ago to represent the country.

This year's gathering of the WHO's main decision-making body, which began Monday and lasts through June 1, is considered one of the most important ever as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on.

There have been calls to revamp the UN health agency as well as the entire global approach to health to avoid future catastrophes.

A WHO committee tasked with verifying country delegation credentials had proposed deferring a decision on who should represent Myanmar at the key meeting, "pending guidance from the United Nations General Assembly" on how the UN system as a whole should view the matter.

For now, that would mean "no one would represent Myanmar at the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly", according to the proposal, which was approved by WHO member states without a vote Wednesday morning.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the February 1 putsch, which has sparked near-daily protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement.

The military has killed more than 800 civilians in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

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UN envoy still hopes to get to Myanmar
United Nations, United States (AFP) May 24, 2021
The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, said Monday she still hopes to visit the country after seven weeks spent in the region waiting for the junta that staged a coup in February to allow her in. During a meeting in Indonesia at the end of April with the head of the Myanmar junta, General Min Aung Hlaing "didn't say that he doesn't want to speak with me anymore," the Swiss diplomat said at a virtual press conference in Bangkok, where she has spent most of her time since early ... read more