Efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO) to reach a global pandemic treaty are set to conclude on Friday after weeks of closed-door talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
Organizers are hoping for a quick agreement as next week’s annual meeting of the U.N. subsidiary body’s 194 member states is looming on the brink of being canceled.
Health officials leading the talks must report back to the World Health Assembly, WHO’s highest decision-making body, whether or not there is a final document for the assembly to consider, AFP reported. Reports.
The House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to Biden urging him to oppose the WHO’s push for a “global pandemic treaty.” https://t.co/3l9IUel17X
—Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 24, 2022
Civil society groups, who were watching the talks from outside the conference hall, did not seem too keen on the deal being reached.
“They are negotiating and fighting hard for a quick resolution but no resolution has been reached,” KM Gopakumar, a senior researcher at the Third World Network, told AFP.
He said there was little chance the talks would be concluded successfully as planned and that countries would urge them to continue and would likely discuss further negotiations in the future.
Critics are already accusing the organization of abusing its bureaucratic powers in trying to control how the world responds to any future pandemics similar to the COVID-19 outbreak.
UK refuses to sign WHO global vaccine treaty, saying it would ‘undermine sovereignty’ https://t.co/Wgn3DkuZvr
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 9, 2024
More than 125,000 people in the UK alone have signed a petition calling for a referendum on any decision to join the so-called pandemic treaty.
Some have suggested that countries might choose to present a framework agreement to the General Assembly, signaling agreement in principle.
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The step-by-step draft agreement has not been made public but a version seen by AFP on Thursday showed significant parts had been approved.
The main debate revolves around issues of access and equity: access to pathogens detected in the country and to pandemic preparedness products such as vaccines derived from that knowledge.
Other difficult topics include sustainable financing, pathogen surveillance, supply chains and equitable distribution of tests, treatments and vaccinations as well as the means to produce them.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already downgraded hopes for a deal, saying an agreement this week is “highly unlikely,” Breitbart News reported.
Still, Washington continues to work “to be better prepared next time,” he said.
