Pandemic Treaty Facts
I encourage everyone to read the Zero Draught of the pandemic Treaty So that you can be truly AWARE OF THE FACTS.
This article covers what I say is the most important crisis that we have in every country on earth.
“The Pandemic Treaty” is something that we need to stop our tyrannical private governments from completing.
The documents and recordings of the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (April 3-6, 2023) are available here:
https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/e/e_inb-5.html
THE WRONG TOPICS ARE BEING NEGOTIATED!
The negotiations BEGIN WITH THE FLAWED PREMISE that we should all ignore the devastating effects of RT-PCR “tests,” Midazolam, ventilators, Run-death-is-near (remdesivir), and genetic-experiment-bioweapons that failed miserably and caused irreparable harm to millions of victims.
Not only were restrictions such as masking, social distancing, travel restrictions, quarantines, curfews and/or lockdowns NON-effective, but they were also absolutely damaging, and even deadly, in many ways.
The top 15 reasons to oppose the negotiation of a “Pandemic Treaty.”
REGARDLESS OF WHERE ON EARTH YOU LIVE…
I encourage everyone to share this article far and wide in order to help ensure that the debate in the UK House of Commons reflects the FACTS of the matter, not the propaganda!
On February 23, 2023, Andrew Bridgen requested that an urgent debate be held regarding the proposed “Pandemic Treaty.”
Then, Andrew Bridgen raised the issue of the proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations.
The propaganda pushback and ad hominem attacks began almost instantly!
The proposed pandemic treaty is scheduled to be debated on Monday 17 April 2023 at 4:30 pm UK time (8:30 am Pacific, 9:30 am Mountain, 10:30 am Central, 11:30 Eastern)
WATCH IT HERE: https://www.youtube.com/UKParliament
https://whatson.parliament.uk/commons/2023-04-17/
https://whatson.parliament.uk/event/cal42173
Member of Parliament Nick Fletcher appears to be in charge of the debate on Monday 17 April 2023.
https://members.parliament.uk/member/4832/contact
I truly wonder if Andrew Bridgen will end up being the ONLY Member of Parliament with the courage to stand up in opposition to the globalists who support giving more power, money and control to the WHO.
I have my suspicions that the “debate” that is scheduled to occur in the House of Commons on Monday 17 April 2023 is going to be filled with an enormous amount of propaganda designed to prop up the globalist agenda.
I believe that the U.K. government is going to attempt to muddy the waters in an attempt to divert attention away from the truly important issues by belatedly responding to a petition that should have been addressed months ago, but has been ignored for nearly a year.
The government of the United Kingdom is on course to have the wrong debate.
They should NOT be debating the process by which such a treaty should be ratified.
They should NOT be debating the “Pandemic Treaty.”
Neither a “Pandemic Treaty” nor amendments to the International Health Regulations should be debated until all of the evils of the past 3+ years have been fully exposed and all the perpetrators of countless crimes against humanity have been brought to justice.
The UK House of Commons should be conducting a post-mortem analysis of the events of the past 3+ years.
If they were to discuss the FACTS, they would see that what is missing in the WHO negotiations is any discussion of the failures of the past 3+ years.
BEFORE even contemplating a global “Pandemic Treaty” or sweeping amendments to the International Health Regulations, the best course of action for the people of the UK, and indeed the World, is to ensure that a full and effective examination of the WHO's involvement in the COVID-19 pandemic response is undertaken and scrupulously reviewed, as well as the actions taken by every government on earth.
ATTEMPTING TO NEGOTIATE AND AGREE TO A LEGALLY-BINDING AGREEMENT TO FINANCE AND ENFORCE DEMONSTRABLY FAILED POLICIES IS CLEARLY INSANE AND/OR EVIL.
NO TREATY OR AMENDMENTS SHOULD BE NEGOTIATED.
THE NEGOTIATIONS MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY
As of 16 May 2022 (less than two weeks after it was first circulated), Parliamentary Petition #614335 had received over 100,000 signatures, which should have caused a public debate to be scheduled in the House of Commons A LONG TIME AGO!
https://web.archive.org/web/20220516215559/https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/614335
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/614335
To the best of my knowledge, the House of Commons FAILED to honor its duty to hold a public debate in response to this petition until NOW.
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9550/CBP-9550.pdf
In March 2021, a group of world leaders announced an initiative for a new treaty on pandemic preparedness and response. This initiative was taken to the World Health Organization (WHO) and will be negotiated, drafted, and debated by a newly-established Intergovernmental Negotiation Body.
Did you read that correctly? This initiative was taken by the WHO. It was taken to a multi-billion pound private company which has itself invented a new intergovernmental body and is owned by Klaus Schwab, the German that wrote the “Great Reset” and published the book in a record 6 months. Strangely enough, his crystal ball predicted many things that happened to fall into place.
So we have our governments worldwide, going along with this company who blatantly deny everything that is said about them even though they record their meetings and share them. Why do they deny this? Because they know that those who are believers in everything that the TV says are too lazy to look it up.
A petition on the UK Parliament website called for the Government “to commit to not signing any international treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness established by the WHO unless this is approved through a public referendum”. The petition closed in November 2022 with 156,086 signatures. At the time of updating this briefing paper, and will be debated in Parliament on 17 April 2023.
This briefing will give an overview of the key background, progress, and developments of the treaty as of March 2023.
Background
2.1 What is the WHO?
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations agency “that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health”.1
The WHO Constitution was signed in July 1946 and entered into force on 7 April 1948. The UK is among 194 WHO Member States. The WHO website provides information about the organisation’s priorities and work.
2.2 How did the proposed treaty come about?
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response was set up by the WHO to “provide an evidence-based path for the future, grounded in lessons of the present and the past to ensure countries and global institutions, including specifically WHO, effectively address health threats.” The Panel based its work on “insights and lessons learned from the health response to COVID-19 as coordinated by WHO”.2 One of its recommendations in its Main Report recognised a need for a “Pandemic Treaty”.3
On 30 March 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, alongside more than 20 world leaders and senior figures of international organisations, published a joint article in several international newspapers, calling for a more joined-up approach to pandemics in the future.4
World Health Organization, About WHO, accessed 18 May 2022
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, About the Independent Panel, accessed 18 May 2022.
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic, May 2021, p45
‘Covid-19: World leaders call for international pandemic treaty’, BBC News, 30 March 2021. The signatories were: J. V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji; António Luís Santos da Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal; Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania; Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda; Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya; Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany; Charles Michel, President of the European Council; Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece; Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea; Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile; Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa; Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Kais Saied, President of Tunisia; Macky Sall, President of Senegal; Pedro Sánchez,
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The article proposed that “nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response.”5
The leaders agreed that the world would face other pandemics and major health emergencies in the future and that no state or multilateral agency can address these threats alone. The leaders stressed that:
... we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The Covid- 19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.
With that, the leaders committed to “ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this and future pandemics.” They stressed that the world needed the capacity to develop, manufacture, and deploy vaccines quickly in response to such threats, as well as going more to “promote global access” to vaccines.
2.3 What was proposed?
In the March 2021 joint article, the group of leaders said:
The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international co, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment.6
The article acknowledges existing provision for a coordinated international response under the International Health Regulations, which would “underpin such a treaty”.
In October 2021, the Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness for and Response to Health Emergencies (WGPR) published a “zero draft” report outlining an assessment of the benefits of a new WHO convention, agreement or another international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response, for consideration by the World Health Assembly.7 This Report, among other
Prime Minister of Spain; Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway; Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia; Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia; Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine; Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation.
See, for example, Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, ‘No government can address the threat of pandemics alone – we must come together’, 30 March 2021.
Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, ‘No government can address the threat of pandemics alone – we must come together’, 30 March 2021.
WHO, ZERO DRAFT Report of the Member States Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness for and Response to Health Emergencies to the special session of the World Health Assembly, WHO Doc A/WGPR/4/3, 28 October 2021.
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things suggested that such an initiative “could include promoting high-level political commitment and whole-of-government whole-of-society approaches, addressing equity, enhancing the One Health approach, and strengthening health systems and their resilience.”8
On 29 November – 1 December 2021, the WHO’s World Health Assembly (WHA) met in a special session to discuss the proposal and the way forward. This was only the second ever special session of its kind in the history of the Assembly.9
In this session, the WHA agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate “a WHO convention, agreement, or another international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”10
When drafting the treaty, the WHO stressed that the Negotiating Body “should be informed by evidence and should take into account the discussions and outcomes of the Member States Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies.”11
A WHO press release provided an overview of the proposal, setting out details about its plan to “kickstart a global process to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or World Health Organization to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response”.12 The press release provides more detail:
The Health Assembly met in a Special Session, the second-ever since WHO’s founding in 1948, and adopted a sole decision titled: “The World Together.” The decision by the Assembly establishes an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement, or another international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, with a view to adoption under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, or other provisions of the Constitution as may be deemed appropriate by the INB.13
WHO, ZERO DRAFT Report of the Member States Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness for and Response to Health Emergencies to the special session of the World Health Assembly, WHO Doc A/WGPR/4/3, 28 October 2021, p1 and p8 para 29.
For a full record of the Session and the decisions adopted, see: WHO, World Health Assembly Second Special Session, 29 November – 1 December 2021, WHO Doc WHASS2/2021/REC/1.
10 WHO, World Health Assembly Second Special Session, 29 November – 1 December 2021, WHO Doc WHASS2/2021/REC/1, Decision SSA2(5) The World Together: Establishment of an intergovernmental negotiating body to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, p20-21.
WHO, World Health Assembly Second Special Session, 29 November – 1 December 2021, WHO Doc WHASS2/2021/REC/1, Decision SSA2(5) The World Together: Establishment of an intergovernmental negotiating body to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, p20-21.
12 WHO Press Release, World Health Assembly agrees to launch process to develop historic global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, 1 December 2021.
13 WHO Press Release, World Health Assembly agrees to launch process to develop historic global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, 1 December 2021.
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2.4 Does the UK support the Treaty?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was a signatory to the article proposing the treaty initially.14 The UK’s position on the substance of the treaty remains to be seen, as negotiations on a draft begin.
In response to a Parliamentary Question from Fleur Anderson MP on how the proposed treaty may address the prioritisation of access to essential public health measures, including the availability of clean water, safe sanitation and good hygiene, the Government said:
The UK was proud to co-sponsor a resolution at the World Health Assembly Special Session in November 2021. This resolution approves the formation of an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The INB will hold its first meeting by 1 March 2022 and submit its outcome for consideration by the 77th World Health Assembly in 2024. The UK will engage stakeholders as negotiations begin, with a view to a final outcome that learns the lessons of COVID-19 to strengthen preparedness for and response to, future potential pandemics. This will include engaging relevant water, sanitation and hygiene stakeholders.15
On 27 May 2022, the Government responded to a Parliamentary petition calling for the government not to sign a new Pandemic Preparedness treaty without a public referendum. The Government said that it supported a new legally-binding instrument “as part of a cooperative and comprehensive approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”16
The Government also said:
The instrument aims to improve how the world prevents, better prepares for,
and responds to future disease outbreaks of pandemic potential at national,
regional and global level. It would complement the existing international
instruments which the UK has already agreed, such as the International Health
Regulations. It would promote greater collective action and accountability.17
14 Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, ‘No government can address the threat of pandemics alone – we must come together’, 30 March 2021.
15 PQ 125555 [on Disease Control: International Cooperation], 18 February 2022, Answered on 28 February 2022.
16 Parliamentary Petition, “Do not sign any WHO Pandemic Treaty unless it is approved via public referendum”, Government Response, 27 May 2022.
17 Parliamentary Petition, “Do not sign any WHO Pandemic Treaty unless it is approved via public referendum”, Government Response, 27 May 2022.
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3 What is happening now?
3.1 How do negotiations work?
Negotiations are governed by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at the
WHO, set up specifically to negotiate this proposed treaty.
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) held a series of meetings in March and April 2022 to discuss proposals for the treaty. Further meetings have been held in December 2022, February-March 2023, with more planned throughout 2023. Minutes and proposed agendas of the meetings are available on the WHO INB website.
3.2 What do experts expect from the Treaty?
Commentary in the British Medical Journal suggests “[i]t will take years to draw up any convention and it is unclear exactly what it will cover and how much global authority it will hold, with countries pushing and pulling in different directions.”18
Experts at the London School of Economics outline proposals for the treaty in a blog post from March 2022.19 The post is based on a more detailed policy brief by the German Alliance on Climate Change and Health, King’s College London, and LSE.20 The LSE post suggests that the treaty is expected to be modelled as a Framework Convention - a broader agreement setting out consensus on high-level principles and commitments. They suggest that Protocols, guidelines and standards could be used to lay out more specific details and commitments in the future. This would be similar to conventions such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which hosts the annual “COP” or “Conference of Parties” on tackling climate change.21
18 Luke Taylor, ‘World Health Organization to begin negotiating international pandemic treaty’, (2021) BMJ 375 n2991.
19 Maike Voss, Clare Wenham, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Rithika Sangameshwaran, and Bianka Detering, A new pandemic treaty: what the World Health Organization needs to do next, LSE Blogs, 30 March 2022.
20 Maike Voss, Clare Wenham, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Rithika Sangameshwaran, and Bianka Detering, ‘A new Treaty on Pandemics – Key to (re)build trust in international cooperation?’, German Alliance on Climate Change and Health, March 2022.
21 See, for example, COP26: the international climate change conference, Glasgow, UK, Commons Library Briefing Paper CBP-8868, 12 October 2021.
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The post by LSE academics lists a number of substantive issues that many different stakeholders have called for including in the treaty, noting that including everything would be unlikely, because there is not likely to be consensus on all of these issues among member states, especially if some issues are “seen to infringe on trade or sovereignty.”22
The substantive suggestions called for, as summarised by these experts, include:
• Anchoring the treaty in human rights and addressing the principles of the right to health, equity, solidarity, transparency, trust, and accountability;
• Using a One Health approach for pandemic prevention and early detection;
• Stronger health systems information and reporting mechanisms; including a better use of digital technology for data collection and sharing;
• A reform of the WHO alarm mechanism, the public health emergency of international control (PHEIC) declaration process and travel and travel restrictions;
• Pathogen and genomic data sharing;
• Resilience to and response to pandemics, including universal access to medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, medical equipment and treatments as well as resilient supply chains, technology transfer;
• Investments in health system strengthening and increased financing for pandemic preparedness and response;
• Stronger international health framework with a strengthened WHO at the centre and increased global coordination;
• Reinforcing legal obligations and norms of global health security and standard settings of health care systems;
• Coordination of research and development (R&D).23
Proposals from stakeholders on what should be included in the treaty were heard by the INB at public hearings in April and September 2022 and can be accessed on the INB’s website. The outcomes of the INB’s “informal, focussed consultations” with international experts can also be viewed on the INB’s website.
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Maike Voss, Clare Wenham, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Rithika Sangameshwaran, and Bianka Detering, A new pandemic treaty: what the World Health Organization needs to do next, LSE Blogs, 30 March 2022.
Maike Voss, Clare Wenham, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Rithika Sangameshwaran, and Bianka Detering, A new pandemic treaty: what the World Health Organization needs to do next, LSE Blogs, 30 March 2022.
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3.3 What’s a “Zero Draft”?
A Zero Draft is a term used to describe the first draft of a text that will be negotiated. Zero Drafts of treaties often undergo several revisions and amendments before the final texts are agreed.
The INB has had several documents relating to the substantive content of the proposed Treaty so far:
• A Working Draft, from the INB’s second meeting in July 2022, as an initial basis for discussions.24
• A Conceptual Zero Draft, from the INB’s third meeting in November 2022, to act as a bridge between the Working Draft and a future Zero Draft of the proposed Treaty.25
• A Zero Draft of the proposed treaty, known currently as “WHO CA+”.26
3.4 What does the Zero Draft Treaty say?
The Zero Draft of the treaty, known as the Zero Draft of WHO CA+, was published on 1 February 2023,27 and discussed at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body’s fourth meeting between 27 February 2023 and 3 March 2023.28
Because the Zero Draft is the starting point for negotiations, the substantive provisions and content of the treaty could change. However, the general structure and broad issues the treaty is likely to address are more likely to remain. The main objective of the treaty, for example, is currently stated in Article 3 as:
... to prevent pandemics, save lives, reduce disease burden and protect livelihoods, through strengthening, proactively, the world’s capacities for preventing, preparing for and responding to, and recovery of health systems from, pandemics. The WHO CA+ aims to comprehensively and effectively address systemic gaps and challenges that exist in these areas, at national,
24 WHO INB, Working draft, presented on the basis of progress achieved, for the consideration of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at its second meeting, A/INB/2/3, 13 July 2023.
25 WHO INB, Conceptual zero draft for the consideration of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at its third meeting, A/INB/3/3, 25 November 2023.
26 WHO INB, Zero draft of the WHO CA+ for the consideration of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at its fourth meeting, A/INB/4/3, 1 February 2023.
27 WHO INB, Zero draft of the WHO CA+ for the consideration of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at its fourth meeting, A/INB/4/3, 1 February 2023.
28 WHO Press Release, Countries begin negotiations on global agreement to protect world from future pandemic emergencies, 3 March 2023; see also, WHO INB, Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, A/INB/4/6, 17 March 2023.
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regional and international levels, through substantially reducing the risk of pandemics, increasing pandemic preparedness and response capacities, progressive realization of universal health coverage and ensuring coordinated, collaborative and evidence-based pandemic response and resilient recovery of health systems at community, national, regional and global levels.
Currently, the parties are negotiating on issues such as:
• The definition, means, and procedure for declaring a pandemic, and what this actually means in practice for states.
• How the treaty would work alongside the International Health Regulations.
• Key international principles that will guide the treaty, such as human rights, sovereignty, equity, solidarity, transparency, accountability and more.
• How to achieve equity in the global supply chain for pandemic-related products, and access to relevant technologies.
• Strengthening the resilience and responsiveness of health systems.
• How states and the WHO should be coordinating and cooperating in
pandemic preparedness and response.
• How to finance pandemic preparedness and response initiatives.
• Setting up a new Governing Body for the treaty – a COP or Conference of the Parties.
• Other general legal issues relating to the treaty, such as amendments, withdrawal, and dispute settlement.
3.5 How does this relate to the International Health Regulations?
Alongside the development of the pandemic preparedness treaty, the WHO is also undertaking a review of the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR). According to the WHO, the IHR is:
... a key international instrument on international health, rooted in the WHO Constitution. The IHR was established to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways
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that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.29
Because the IHR already provides for some of the legal basis for international responses to “public health emergencies of international concern”, the regulations therein are relevant to the development of the pandemic preparedness treaty.
With this in mind, the WHO has explained the interplay between the two processes as follows:
The work on the new accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response would aim to be coherent with, and complement, the IHR. The Health Assembly decision SSA2(5) establishing the INB noted the “need for coherence and complementarity between the process of developing the new instrument and the ongoing work [...] regard to implementation and strengthening of the IHR (2005)”.
A process agreed on by the World Health Assembly at its meeting in May 2022 is underway to consider potential “targeted” amendments to the IHR. This work is being conducted through a dedicated Member-State led working group process (the Working Group on Amendments to the IHR (2005)) which held
its first meeting on 14-15 November 2022.
The World Health Assembly decision establishing the above-mentioned Working Group requested the Working Group “to coordinate with the process of the [INB], by means that include regular coordination between the two respective Bureaux and alignment of meeting schedules and workplans, as both the International Health Regulations (2005) and the new instrument are expected to play central roles in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in the future.”
As part of this process, more than 300 amendments have been proposed by States Parties.30
These amendments were subject to a review by the Review Committee regarding amendments to the International Health Regulations. The terms of reference (PDF) for this Review Committee detail the exact scope of the work and analysis that the Committee was expected to undertake on the proposed amendments. 31
29 WHO Questions and Answers, Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response accord, 23 January 2023.
30 WHO, Article-by-Article Compilation of Proposed Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) submitted in accordance with decision WHA75(9) (2022) (PDF); see also, WHO, Proposed Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) submitted in accordance with decision WHA75(9) (2022) (PDF).
31 IHR Review Committee regarding amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005), Terms of Reference, 23 October 2022.
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This Review Committee produced its final report on 6 February 2023.32 This report considered each of these amendments in detail, and conducted a full analysis (PDF) on them to provide technical recommendations to the WHO Director-General and WHO member states.
This report, and the amendments as a whole, will be considered by the Working Group (WGIHR). The Working Group will then present its final proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations for consideration by the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly in May 2024.
This will be at the same time as the INB presents a draft of the proposed pandemic preparedness treaty (WHO CA+) to the World Health Assembly too.
3.6 How is the UK involved in negotiations?
The INB is set up to be open to all WHO Member States and has said in its proposed methods of work that it “will work in an inclusive manner.”33 This means that the UK can participate in the INB in the same way as it participates in the World Health Assembly.
The UK is represented at the WHO by the UK Mission to the WTO, UN and Other International Organisations (Geneva).
3.7 Is there a public consultation?
The WHO has explained that, through the WHA Decision, the WHA requested that the WHO Director-General “convene the INB meetings and support its work, including by facilitating the participation of other United Nations system bodies, non-state actors, and other relevant stakeholders in the process to the extent decided by the INB.”34,
The INB has been taking public consultations on the proposal since early 2022. The INB had two rounds of public hearings.
The first took place in April 2022, and invited limited submissions from stakeholders and the general public in response to a guiding question of
32 WHO, Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005), Report of the Review Committee regarding amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005), A/WGIHR/2/5, 6 February 2023.
33 WHO International Negotiating Body, ‘Proposed method of work’, 10 March 2021, WHO Doc A/INB/1/3 Rev.1.
34 WHO Press Release, World Health Assembly agrees to launch process to develop historic global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, 1 December 2021.
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“What substantive elements do you think should be included in a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response?”.35
A second round of public hearings took place at the WHO on 29-30 September 2022. This round of hearings asked interested parties to submit a short 90- second video answering the question: “Based on your experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, what do you believe should be addressed at the international level to better protect against future pandemics?”.36
The INB also held what it called “Informal, focused consultations” with international experts on selected key issues to the development of the Treaty. These were help between September and October 2022, where all WHO Member States could participate in an “interactive discussion” with relevant stakeholders and subject matter experts.37
Ahead of plans for the INB to submit its outcome for consideration by the 77th WHA in 2024, the UK Government has said it will engage stakeholders as negotiations begin, with a view to a final outcome that learns the lessons of COVID-19 to strengthen preparedness for and response to, future potential pandemics.38 In September 2022, the UK Government also indicated that it is “engaging with a range of stakeholders on the instrument, through roundtables with civil society and discussion with relevant groups”, and that outside of the WHO’s public consultations the UK would continue to engage with relevant stakeholders as the negotiations progress.39
At the European Parliament, a Parliamentary Question was put to the European Commission about the treaty, and the participation of citizens in the process.40 The Commission was asked “to what extent will [it] ensure that the citizen, who has no direct vote in a body such as the WHO, is not bypassed in the decision-making process and that a shift of competence further and further away from the voter does not lead to an increasing ‘de- democratisation’ of our society?”
The response, given on behalf of the Commission, referred to commitments from the INB and WHO Director-General to hold public hearings and work with relevant stakeholders:
35 See, WHO INB, Public hearings regarding a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response, 12-13 April 2022 (accessed 17 May 2022).
36 See, WHO INB, Second round of public hearings, New international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response: contributing to the second round of public hearings, 29-10 September 2022 (accessed 9 March 2023).
37 See, WHO INB, Informal, focussed consultations, 21 September – 14 October 2022 (accessed 9 March 2023.
38 PQ 125555 [on Disease Control: International Cooperation], 18 February 2022, Answered on 28 February 2022.
39 PQ 45483 [on Infectious Diseases: Disease Control], 2 September 2022, Answered on 27 September 2022.
40 See European Parliament, Question reference P-000921/2022, 7 March 2022.
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The principle of ‘Informed opinion and active cooperation on the part of the public are of the utmost importance in the improvement of the health of the people’ is anchored in the preamble of the Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO).41
4 What happens next?
4.1 Will the treaty be legally binding?
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body agreed by consensus at its second meeting in July 2022 that the new international instrument on pandemic preparedness should be legally-binding.42
The exact scope and extent of the obligations under the treaty will depend upon the outcome of negotiations for the treaty.
Background
The WHO’s initial release refers to the plans leading to “a convention, agreement or other international instrument under the Constitution of the World Health Organization”.43
Recent academic commentary by Clare Wenham, Mark Eccleston-Turner and Maike Voss suggested that the WHA’s mandate for the INB leaves room for an outcome that is not legally binding. They suggest:
the language of ‘a legally binding instrument to be adopted under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution’ was changed to ‘WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument ... with a view to adoption under Article 19, or under other provisions of the WHO Constitution as may be deemed appropriate by the INB’ (emphasis added), meaning that the resulting ‘pandemic treaty’ may not actually be a treaty at all, but some other instrument, lacking the legally binding force of a treaty.44
However, the initial proponents of the initiative, including the UK, EU, and others have supported a legally binding treaty at this stage, with the EU
41 See European Parliament, Question reference P-000921/2022(ASW), 19 April 2022.
42 WHO Press Release, Pandemic instrument should be legally binding, INB meeting concludes, 21 July
2022.
43 WHO Press Release, World Health Assembly agrees to launch process to develop historic global
accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, 1 December 2021.
44 Clare Wenham, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Maike Voss, ‘The futility of the pandemic treaty: caught
between globalism and statism’, (2022) 98(3) International Affairs 837-852, p 844.
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The WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty
suggesting that an “international instrument” would also be binding in international law.45
The WHO’s press release noted that the treaty would be drafted “with a view to adoption under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, or other provisions of the Constitution as may be deemed appropriate by the INB.” It also said:
Article 19 of the WHO Constitution provides the World Health Assembly with the authority to adopt conventions or agreements on any matter within WHO’s competence. The sole instrument established under Article 19 to date is the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which has made a significant and rapid contribution to protecting people from tobacco since its entry into force in 2005.46
4.2 How will the treaty be adopted?
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body agreed by consensus at its second meeting in July 2022 that the new international instrument on pandemic preparedness should be legally-binding.47
This confirmed the initial proposal by the World Health Assembly that the treaty could be adopted according to Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, or any other appropriate mechanism under the WHO Constitution.
Article 19 of the WHO Constitution provides for one such mechanism, which states:
Article 19
The Health Assembly shall have authority to adopt conventions or agreements with respect to any matter within the competence of the Organization. A two- thirds vote of the Health Assembly shall be required for the adoption of such conventions or agreements, which shall come into force for each Member when accepted by it in accordance with its constitutional processes.
Any convention or international treaty adopted using this procedure would require agreement of at least two-thirds of the WHO Members.
The INB identified Article 19 as the most comprehensive provision of the WHO Constitution under which the instrument should be adopted, but remained open to confirming whether Article 21 could also be appropriate as work on
45 See, for example, European Council, An international treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness, 25 March 2022 (accessed 17 May 2022).
46 WHO Press Release, World Health Assembly agrees to launch process to develop historic global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, 1 December 2021.
47 WHO Press Release, Pandemic instrument should be legally binding, INB meeting concludes, 21 July 2022.
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the treaty progresses.48 Article 21 relates to the World Health Assembly’s powers to adopt regulations on a range of technical health-related issues. Regulations under Article 21 would come into force for all Member States, except where Members reject or make reservations within a specified notice period.
The INB emphasised that the final decision on how to adopt the Treaty remains with the World Health Assembly.49
4.3 Key dates moving forward
According to the WHA’s initial decision establishing the INB,50 the INB’s initial work,51 and the latest proposals at the INB’s fourth meeting in February/March 2023,52 the following are key dates in the progress of the treaty.
• The INB will host its fifth meeting in April 2023.
• The INB will deliver a progress report to the 76th World Health Assembly
in May 2023.
• By late May / early June, the first draft of the WHO CA+ will be distributed to Member States.
• A INB Drafting Group will meet in June 2023.
• The INB will host its sixth meeting in July 2023.
• Further meetings or drafting group sessions could be held in September, November, and December 2023
• The INB will submit its outcome for consideration by the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024.
In a progress report from 28 March 2023, the INB indicated the following:
48 WHO INB, Report of the Second Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, A/INB/2/5, 21 July 2022, para 4.
49 WHO INB, Report of the Second Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, A/INB/2/5, 21 July 2022, para 4.
50 WHO, World Health Assembly Second Special Session, 29 November – 1 December 2021, WHO Doc WHASS2/2021/REC/1, Decision SSA2(5) The World Together: Establishment of an intergovernmental negotiating body to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, p20-21.
51 WHO International Negotiating Body, ‘Proposed method of work’, 10 March 2021, WHO Doc A/INB/1/3 Rev.1.
52 See, for example, WHO INB, Proposal by the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) regarding modalities for the INB’s fourth and fourth meetings, for consideration by the INB, A/INB/4/4, 21 February 2023.
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53
WHO INB, Progress report of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or another international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (INB) to the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly, A/INB/5/3, 28 March 2023.
In the period leading up to the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly in May 2024, the INB will, pursuant to its agreed timeline and deliverables, hold four additional sessions (including two “two-week marathon” sessions) in the first quarter of 2024, as well as two additional sessions of the drafting group in 2023. The INB may, if it finds it appropriate, supplement its working sessions, in order to meet the ambitious deadline established by the Health Assembly for the INB’s work.53
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Commons Library Re if it finds it appropriate,
This is a serious subject and if it is passed, I can promise you that the earth will see violence through the civil war on a level you could not imagine. We will either be sent to isolation camp and the kids will be taken away or we have a conflict for our lives.
Thanks for reading.