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Excerpt from www.lowyinstitute.org
Delegates in Geneva are approaching the final stretch of negotiating a pandemic treaty which is up for adoption at this year’s World Health Assembly, beginning 27 May. If adopted, the treaty could make the world safer from future pandemics such as Covid-19, which killed an estimated 28.5 million people and will cost the global economy about US$13.8 (AU$21.3) trillion through 2024.
But damaging disinformation has surrounded the negotiations, including the pervasive falsehood that through the treaty, the World Health Organisation is usurping the sovereign rights of states to implement their own health policies. Despite being widely debunked by fact checkers and media outlets, the disinformation persists, not only in Australia but worldwide. This claim is categorically false. Here’s why.
The draft treaty in clear and explicit terms reaffirms that countries retain the sovereign right to adopt and implement their own health policies. The treaty, like most do, sets out activities that states “shall”, “should” and are otherwise encouraged to do, but at all times countries retain the power to legislate as they see fit in furtherance of the treaty’s aims. It is not intended to, and does not, dictate national policy. There is a deep tradition in international law that states maintain sovereignty to make their own policy decisions, including health policy.