What are the UN and the WHO up to?
In 2022, during the Covid-19 response, in unison, the UN prepared its UN PPPR Declaration and the WHA handed down a Decision to commence reworking the 2005 International Health Regulations (2005 IHRs) and draft a new pandemic treaty in the name of strengthening Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response.
This has seen the creation of four separate documents which have been described as declarations, treaties, or accords.
1. The UN PPPR Declaration, which was tentatively adopted at the High-level Meeting on 20 September 2023.
2. The WHO’s proposed amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHRAs) have been intentionally split into two parts:
These amendments appeared minor in number. Yet they were significant in that they greatly reduced the timing to reject future amendments (from 18 months to 10 months) and the requirement to implement (from 24 months to 12 months).
Unfortunately, Australia did not actively reject the Article 59 IHRAs in time. The Joint Standing Committee on Committees (JSCT) assessed the Article 59 IHRAs as minor and that no action was needed. JSCT’s Report 210 outlines this. See that report HERE.
These are being worked on at present, with the Working Group scheduled to hold two more meetings before May 2024.
On 15 December 2023, the IHR Review Committee was required to reconvene to review the package of amendments agreed to by the Working Group with final technical recommendations are required to be submitted to the WHO’s Director General by end of January 2024, so they can be circulated 4 months in advance of the 77th WHA, where they will likely be adopted.
However, the WHO has failed to comply with its own rules, and the 300+ IHRAs have not been supplied to Member States. The problem with this is that we will have no time to consider the substantial 300+ amendments before we are due to vote on them in May 2024.
3. The WHO’s drafting of a new Pandemic Treaty, which is currently being worked on at present, with three more meetings scheduled between now and March 2024. This document requires a 2/3rd majority of votes by Member States for it to be adopted at the 77th World Health Assembly end of May 2024.
Below is a diagram that visually outlines the 4 treaties, their status, and the dates that Australia has to actively reject.
The UN and the WHO have the following reasons for the urgent preparation of these documents:
In recognition of the catastrophic failure of the international community in showing solidarity and equity in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic…
If this is the justification for the documents currently being drafted, then we should be concerned: following the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been no pause, no stop for reflection on what went wrong and what could be done better. Instead, the UN and the WHO are running headlong into amending and preparing new treaty documents all in the name of health. What’s more alarming is that our elected governments are letting them!
Whatever your beliefs, everyone of us can agree that a review on the cost benefits of locking down the healthy, masking children, and population wide vaccination is necessary to confirm whether those extreme measures has left the world a healthier place.
The concern with what is currently being drafted is it is being done on the mistaken belief that the WHO, health departments, and our governments around the world got it right.
Relevantly, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic over the last 4 years was achieved under the existing 2005 IHRs. So, any new powers the UN and the WHO bestow upon themselves will give the UN and the WHO inordinate amounts of power over how a Member State manages its own public health crises.
Both the amendments to the 2005 IHR and the new Pandemic Treaty raise significant alarm bells for the sovereignty of Member States, the freedoms of individuals to be able to move freely and make choices for their own health, and it will directly impact upon our ability to move freely around the globe.
These concerns are heightened with the public/private funding received by the WHO and the power the WHO will now have to declare a ‘health risk’ of potential (not actual) concern. Such loose wording means that a ‘health risk’ could extend to climate related issues.
As any amendments to the existing 2005 Regulations, which Australia is bound without reservation, require no express or written formal approval to become binding, it is incumbent on us all to ensure that our Government are aware of the 4 treaties and that this is an election issue and we will hold our elected official accountable for any decisions they make.
In order for the amendments to not apply to Australia, they have to be expressly rejected by our WHO delegate/representative at the Department of Health. That representative is appointed to the role. Meaning they are not elected by us, rather they are a public servant. The Australian Government has declined to advise which unelected officials are representing us in the negotiations of the 300+ IHRAs and who will be voting on these health treaties on our behalf.
