WHO announces new protection law against future pandemics
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that member nations have concurred to formulate the initial draft of a legally enforceable framework to shield the planet from prospective pandemics.
WHO articulated in a proclamation disseminated on Thursday that the framework would take into account fairness, enhance readiness, ensure unity, and honor sovereignty.
As per it, the “zero draft” of the pandemic treaty, grounded in the WHO Constitution, will be deliberated by Member States in February 2023.
“Today’s consensus by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), consisting of WHO’s 194 Member Nations.
“It marks a pivotal moment in the worldwide effort to glean lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and avert a recurrence of the destructive effects it has had on individuals and communities globally.
“The INB convened at WHO headquarters in Geneva from 5-7 December for its third assembly since its formation in December 2021, following a special session of the World Health Assembly,” it mentioned.
According to the announcement, the body concurred that the INB’s Bureau would formulate the zero draft of the pandemic treaty to commence negotiations at the fourth INB meeting, which is set to commence on February 27, 2023.
It noted that the draft would be grounded in the conceptual zero draft and dialogues at the INB assembly this week.
The INB Bureau, as outlined in the statement, is comprised of six representatives, one from each of the six WHO regions, including the Co-Chairs, Mr. Roland Driece of the Netherlands and Ms. Precious Matsoso of South Africa.
Mr. Driece, Co-Chair of the INB Bureau, asserted that nations have conveyed a clear message that the world must be more prepared, coordinated, and supported to defend all individuals, everywhere, from a recurrence of COVID-19.
He indicated that the resolution to assign them the task of creating a zero draft of a pandemic treaty is a crucial advancement toward ensuring global safety.
Ms. Matsoso, a Fellow INB Bureau Co-Chair, indicated that government representatives highlighted the importance of fairness, enhancing preparedness, ensuring unity, fostering a comprehensive societal and governmental approach, and honoring national sovereignty in any upcoming pandemic treaty.
“The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on human lives, economies, and societies overall must never be overlooked.
“The greatest opportunity we possess today, as a global society, to thwart a repetition of the past is to unite, in the spirit of solidarity, in a commitment to fairness, and in the pursuit of health for all.
“Also cultivate a global agreement that protects communities from future pandemic threats.
“The WHO pandemic treaty is under consideration with an aim for its ratification under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, without detriment to also evaluating, as work advances, the relevance of Article 21,” Matsoso remarked.
