World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus complained on Monday that a “torrent of fake news, lies and conspiracy theories” had successfully thwarted globalist efforts to establish a global treaty against the pandemic.
Tedros has led an effort to draft and implement a global pandemic treaty, pact or other agreement that gives his organization authority over public health policies above national governments. from at least in late 2020, when the world was struggling to contain the wave of deaths and serious illnesses caused by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 World Health Assembly (WHA), the annual meeting of all WHO member states, discussed the possibility of approving a pandemic agreement, but a draft did not exist until early 2023.
At the 2023 World Health Assembly, the parties discussed the draft of something called a “WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,” as countries could not decide whether they wanted to accept a treaty, pact, convention or other international legal document. Disagreements over the document's call for the transfer of intellectual property rights over life-saving pandemic drugs, “equity” regarding coordinated responses to pandemics, and “differentiated responsibilities” between poorer and richer nations stalled the progress in advancing the legal document. Widespread concerns regarding the erosion of sovereignty and human rightspossible if the WHO gains the authority to dictate public health policy, have also caused pause, as has the WHO decision. abysmal Response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Tedros accused wavering governments of failing to understand the urgency of empowering his agency and blamed a "torrent of fake news, lies and conspiracy theories" for the delays. according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). He claimed it was “absolutely false” that the pandemic deal would allow the WHO to impose lockdowns and other civil rights violations over and above the wishes of member states.
"We cannot allow this historic agreement, this milestone in global health, to be sabotaged," Tedros said, quoted by AFP.
Tedros delivered a speech on Monday at the opening of this year's first meeting of the WHO executive board in which he noted that the organization was seeking to conclude the establishment of a pandemic agreement at the 2024 World Health Assembly and that supposedly time It was ending.
"At the political level, world leaders at the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting agreed on a strong political declaration, including a commitment to conclude negotiations on the pandemic agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations by May this year," he said, "But I must say that I am seriously concerned that Member States will not honor that commitment.”
“Time is very short and there are several pending issues that remain to be resolved,” he warned.
“In my opinion, failure to reach agreement on the pandemic and amendments to the IHR will be a missed opportunity that future generations may not forgive us,” Tedros added.
The IHR is an independent international legal instrument known as the International Health Regulations. The WHO is also seeking to expand its authority through amendments to the IHR that would allow it greater freedom to declare health emergencies, among other powers. The 2023 World Health Assembly gave rise to some successful amendments to the IHR, including one that allows the WHO to declare a public health emergency without having to “consult and attempt to obtain verification from the State Party in whose territory the event is allegedly occurring.”
The approved amendment to the IHR was intended to prevent a repeat of the situation at the beginning of 2020, when the WHO had evidence of an outbreak of a new disease in Wuhan, China, but the Communist Party intervened to delay the declaration of a health emergency, allowing the disease to spread and the situation to evolve from an epidemic to a pandemic.
Tedros was re-elected lead the WHO in an uncontested election in 2022 despite global condemnation of the agency's handling of the pandemic and its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People on January 28, 2020 in Beijing, China. (Naohiko Hatta – Pool/Getty Images)
“It will take courage and commitment. A consensus will not be reached if everyone remains entrenched in their positions,” Tedros warned member states in his comments on Monday. "Everyone will have to give something, or no one will get anything."
Tedros also used his comments to repeat their demand for $1.5 billion “to support our emergency response work.”
This year's campaign for a pandemic treaty began earlier than usual. Tedros did something similar passed during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in January, warning that an as-yet-unknown “Disease X” could devastate humanity to an even greater degree than the Wuhan coronavirus.
“We lost a lot of people.” [during the coronavirus pandemic] because we could not manage them,” said Tedros. “They could have been saved, but there was no space. There wasn't enough oxygen. So how can you have a system that can expand when needed?
“The agreement on the pandemic can bring together all the experience, all the challenges we have faced and all the solutions,” he said. "That agreement can help us better prepare for the future."
"This is a common global interest, and very narrow national interests should not get in the way," Tedros said.
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