By COUNTER SIGNAL May 17, 2022
On March 30, the World Health Organization published the following list of 25 world leaders who have committed to working together “towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response”:
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine; Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway; António Luís Santos da Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal; Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy; Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania; Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany; Charles Michel, President of the European Council; Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile; Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia; Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia; Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea; J. V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji; Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand; Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda; Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya; Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa; Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; Kais Saied, President of Tunisia; Macky Sall, President of Senegal; Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia; and, of course, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. [Emphasis added and order altered]
Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand can be added to this list.
On November 29, 2021, the Canadian Press confirmed that “Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada supports the development of a new global convention on pandemic preparedness and response that will be debated at a special meeting of the World Health Assembly today.”
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As for the US, the Biden administration is leading the charge in amending the WHO’s International Health Regulations, with the explicit purpose of increasing the surveillance capacity of the WHO and expanding its power to enforce their regulations.
The amendments the Biden administration has proposed will be expanded upon below.
Australia has also been influential, with Ambassador Sally Mansfield helping draft the decision to have the World Health Assembly begin negotiating the pandemic treaty.
New Zealand, of course, also supports signing away its health sovereignty, with Director-General Tedros personally thanking New Zealand’s foreign minister for doing so.
“It is an honour to welcome the Honourable Nanaia Mahuta to WHO and to express my deep gratitude to New Zealand for its leadership in public health and invaluable support to WHO, including the pandemic treaty and increase in assessed contributions,” said Tedros in February.
Meanwhile, the UK under Boris Johnson appears to be one of the biggest supporters of creating a global pandemic treaty, with Johnson personally contributing to a joint article proclaiming the need for a “One Health” approach that would see the WHO take over the health care decisions of nearly every nation on the planet.
“… We believe that nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response,” Johnson writes.
“The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all of government and all of society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international co-operation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health counter-measures such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment,” Johnson continues.
“It would also include recognition of a “One Health” approach that connects the health of humans, animals and our planet. And such a treaty should lead to more mutual accountability and shared responsibility, transparency and co-operation within the international system and with its rules and norms.”
While the term “mutual accountability” is vague, Director-General Tedros has indicated he believes that “exploring the sanctions may be important.” Yes, Tedros believes that sanctioning countries for not abiding by the World Health Organization’s rules should be on the table. This could be what Johnson means by “mutual accountability.”
As it stands, The Counter Signal has yet to find a world leader who has explicitly stated that they will oppose the pandemic treaty or amendments to the International Health Regulations, though more MPs, Congressmen, and MEPs are sounding the alarm now that information on the treaty has been proliferated.