Fourteen Australian politicians have written a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asking the Labor government not to sign the upcoming World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic treaty.
It comes as Australia prepares to take part in the 77th World Health Assembly on May 27, where member countries will decide whether to agree to a health accord with global implications.
The WHO pandemic treaty, currently in its draft stage, is a legally binding agreement that requires member countries to “recognise WHO as the guiding and coordinating authority of international public health response” and follow the WHO’s directives during a health emergency.
Some legal experts and politicians have raised concerns, however, about its impact on the sovereignty of member countries, and whether it bestows too much authority to the WHO.
Apart from the treaty, the WHO will push for amendments to the current International Health Regulation (IHR), which seeks to change the current IHR non-binding recommendations into binding ones.
The proposed amendments will cover all “public health emergencies of international concern” (PHEIC) and allow the WHO director-general to determine what a PHEIC is and when it ends.
They also grant the WHO director-general the power to impose vaccine mandates, border closures, and other measures to combat PHEIC.
Politicians’ Letter to Australian PM
On May 14, a group of federal senators and MPs from the right- to centre-right, penned a letter to Mr. Albanese, advising the Labor government to reject the treaty and the IHR amendments.The 14 MPs include Senators Ralph Babet, Alex Antic, Pauline Hanson, Matt Canavan, Malcolm Roberts, Matthew O‘Sullivan, as well as MPs Terry Young, Tony Pasin, Russell Broadbent, Colin Boyce, Luke Howarth, David Gillespie, Barnaby Joyce, and Llew O’Brien.
The letter said the WHO pandemic treaty, along with proposed IHR amendments, would pose a significant threat to Australia’s autonomy and independence.
“We have received a large volume of correspondence from Australians who are rightly concerned about the IHR amendments and the WHO pandemic treaty, and we share those concerns.”
The letter also alleged that the WHO’s recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic caused more damage than what they prevented, as well as resulted in untold economic and social losses.
In addition, they said that according to the WHO’s constitution, the agency is meant to be an advisory and coordinating body to assist governments in strengthening health services at their request.
“The WHO has no power or jurisdiction to implement a WHO pandemic treaty, which goes well beyond its jurisdiction,” the letter read.
UK Rejects Current Draft Treaty
Amid the WHO’s push for the treaty to be approved, some member countries have openly disagreed with its content.“I set out some of our negotiating red lines, and I am happy to confirm from the Dispatch Box that the current text is not acceptable to us,” Mr. Stephenson said.
“Therefore, unless the current text is changed and refined, we will not be signing up to it.”
The minister also noted that the UK would only join the treaty if the WHO respected the country’s national sovereignty.
“Under no circumstances will we allow the WHO to have the power to mandate lockdowns,” he said.
Earlier, the Slovakian government announced that the country did not support the current version of the agreement, citing sovereignty concerns. While New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters had made it government policy not to adopt any treaty that could threaten the country’s sovereignty.
