W O R L D H E A L T H O R G A N I Z A T I O N • R E G I O N A L O F F I C E F O R E U R O P E Scherfigsvej 8, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Telephone: +45 39 17 17 17 Telefax: +45 39 17 18 18 Telex: 12000 who dk Electronic mail: postmaster@who.dk World Wide Web address: http://www.euro.who.int Regional Committee for Europe Fifty-second session Copenhagen, 16–19 September 2002 Provisional agenda item 10 EUR/RC52/Inf.Doc./5 15 July 2002 22995 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH REASSIGNMENT OF CYPRUS FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN TO THE EUROPEAN REGION OF WHO The Regional Director informs the Regional Committee of the request received from the Government of Cyprus for reassignment from the Eastern Mediterranean to the European Region of WHO. This request is submitted to the Regional Committee for its consideration, and its views will be conveyed to the Fifty-sixth session of the World Health Assembly in May 2003. The procedure for reassignment of a Member State from one region to another is outlined in this document.
EUR/RC52/Inf.Doc./5 page 1 Background and procedure for reassignment of Member States to regions 1. By its letter of 15 March 2002 (Annex 1), the Ministry of Health of Cyprus confirmed to the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) and the Regional Office for Europe (EURO) its request for reassignment from the Eastern Mediterranean to the European Region of WHO. The reasons for this request are expressed in Cyprus’s letter of 26 June 2001 (Annex 2). 2. With a view to ensuring full consultation between the regions concerned, the Forty-ninth World Health Assembly in 1996 adopted resolution WHA49.6: The Forty-ninth World Health Assembly, Considering the need to ensure full consultation between the regions concerned before a decision is taken whether or not to reassign a Member State from one region of the World Health Organization to another, 1. DECIDES that any request by a Member State for reassignment from one region to another should be examined by the regional committees concerned, and that their views should be conveyed to the Health Assembly for its consideration before it acts upon such a request; 2. REQUESTS the Director-General, when he receives a request by a Member State for such reassignment, to ensure implementation of the above provisions. 3. The Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean informed the Regional Director for Europe by memorandum of 30 May 2002, that, at a coordination meeting of the delegations from Eastern Mediterranean countries during the Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly, it was unanimously agreed that Cyprus should be transferred from the Eastern Mediterranean to the European Region, and that this item would be submitted for consideration by the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean at its forty-ninth session, to be held from 30 September to 3 October 2002, prior to its views being conveyed to the World Health Assembly for consideration. 4. The Regional Committee for Europe is accordingly requested to consider Cyprus’s request for reassignment to the European Region. Its views will subsequently be conveyed to the World Health Assembly for its consideration. EUR/RC52/Inf.Doc./5 page 2 Annex 1 EUR/RC52/Inf.Doc./5 page 3 Annex 2