David Thunder

The World Health Organisation has proposed that the international community negotiate and eventually ratify an international “accord” or “treaty” that would effectively consolidate the position of the WHO as the pre-eminent public authority responsible for guiding and coordinating international pandemic responses.

The WHO got the ball rolling with its decision on 1st December 2021 “to kickstart a global process to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument under the Constitution of the World Health Organization to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.” This was to be further developed on 3rd May 2022 by a “Zero draft report of the Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies.”

For now, this is an unratified draft report. Nonetheless, it has some troubling features that give us a hint of the WHO’s intentions in proposing a pandemic treaty.