‘Hypocritical’ Aussie FM at UN Ebola meeting warns against discrimination

The Aussie FM has slammed discrimination against nationals of Ebola-hit W. African countries while chairing the UN Security Council. Her statement has prompted accusations of hypocrisy as Australia has imposed travel bans on these states.

“The Security Council expresses its continued concern about the detrimental effect of the isolation of the affected countries as a result of trade and travel restrictions imposed on and to the affected countries,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who read a statement from the UN Security Council in New York.

 Australia assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council for November 2014 and Bishop became the first Aussie FM to preside at the meeting.

Bishop added that UN also expresses its concern over the “acts of discrimination against the nationals of Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone, including Ebola survivors and their families or those infected with the disease.”

The Security Council called on its member states, as well as airlines and shipping companies, “to maintain trade and transport links with the most affected countries” while applying appropriate public health protocols, she said.

 “The Security Council reiterates its grave concern about the unprecedented extent of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, which constitutes a threat to international peace and security.”

Bishop’s statement on Ebola, however, was criticized by the Australian Labor party, which pointed out that Aussie PM Tony Abbott’s government had imposed bans on visa for Ebola-hit countries.

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Maher Taki