Last Updated on October 12, 2023 3:02 am by Editor
From the assault on their children’s sexual identity through the MOE to crafting of a new constitution, to a suspect national digital ID card to the most recent move to raise the pension age to 68, citizens of Barbadians have had to take to the streets again and again to defend their rights and interests.
But it appears that they may have to do so again because quietly simmering right under their noses is an issue whose importance and far-reaching consequences will force them to review the lessons learned from the recent global health crisis and take concerted action.
We are speaking about the proposed WHO/ WHA International Health Regulations (IHR) variously referred to as the Pandemic Treaty Regulations or International Health Regulations (IHR) Amendments. Health and in particular international health issues are complex so there is no easy way to summarize the issue we are addressing. But because of urgency of the hour, we have to try.
Background
For some time now, we have been hearing chatter about the possibility of another international health crisis ( a.k.a pandemic) and how to prevent it. Influential people such as Bill Gates, the World Economic Forum, countries such as the USA, the EU and the WHO of course, have been speaking about preventing the next pandemic.
A major theme of this global coalition is how to use the experience of the last one to handle the next one which, for some strange reason, they believe is imminent.
This global coalition is proposing a new set of rules which technically can be dubbed, the International Health Regulations (IHR) Amendments which all 196 member countries are being asked to sign/ ratify as binding. The existing regulations are the IHR (International Health Regulations) (2005) to which the Barbados Government is a signatory.
The WHO is the custodian of the IHR (International Health Regulations). According to that body (WHO), these regulations “provide an overarching legal framework that defines countries’ rights and obligations in handling public health events and emergencies that have the potential to cross borders”.
When countries meet to deliberate on world health issues they do so as the WHA (World Health Assembly). This is the highest health policy-setting body of the World Health Organization (WHO) and is composed of health ministers from 196 member states. Barbados is a member of the WHA.
The Big Issue
The WHA is currently considering a new set of health regulations which members are required to give assent to by December 2023. The last WHA meeting was in May this year 2023. So what is the problem? The problem is that there is more than a little distrust and controversy about the regulations.
Two overarching critiques of the current draft of these amended regulations (often confused with the Pandemic Treaty itself) are of concern to member countries. They are as follows: (1) that the treaty is to be legally binding and (2) that various sanctions can be imposed on member countries that fail to adhere to treaty provisions.
Critics argue that the sum total of these two alone amounts to a substantial loss of national sovereignty and independence over the treatment of national health situations.
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Senator Malcolm Roberts is calling for his country Australia, to exit the WHO because of the perceived “power grab” it is bent on making to dictate health policy to his country through the Pandemic Treaty [Regulations]. |
The UK government is also at loggerheads over the proposed amendments. In a parliamentary debate on a petition related to the matter, it appears that some MPs are also reflecting the concerns of the Aussie senator. MP Danny Kruger had this to say:
The regulations propose the creation of a vast public health surveillance mechanism at public expense; if the WHO itself is anything to go by, that would be substantially funded by the pharmaceutical industry. Crucially, as my Hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley said, the regulations propose that the WHO’s existing powers to make recommendations about what countries should do be upgraded from non-binding to binding. That amounts to a vast transfer of power to the WHO.
We do not wish to reinvent the wheel, so we invite you to listen to an expert assessment of some aspects of these regulations with Dr. James Campbell and James Roguski. James Roguski has posted an open letter to the world leaders here.
Please share this article on every platform and help create awareness in Barbados and the wider Caribbean which is the first step in fighting this issue.
