Is the WHO moving down the right path? | Dr Amrei Müller

In this presentation, Dr Amrei Müller gives an update of the on-going revision of the International Health Regulations (IHR) at WHO and evaluate it from a human rights (law) perspective.

Whilst focusing on the recently collated amendments to the IHR that have been proposed by WHO member states, the parallel process of the negotiation of a new multilateral treaty on pandemic preparedness and response will also be taken account of. After a brief overview of the parallel processes so far, the Global Health Security (GHS) doctrine is introduced. It is this doctrine that underlies the substantive proposals for the amendments of the IHR (and for the new treaty). These substantive proposals – among them the considerable broadening of the scope of application of the IHR, the building of global biomedical digital surveillance system (including through use of vaccine passports), the fast-track development of investigational vaccines and other medical products, infodemic management, etc. – are then examined. Overall, if adopted, the amended IHR (and the new treaty) will extend and entrench in international health law the top-down, securitised approach to the management of infectious disease outbreaks that dominated the WHO-led global response to Covid-19. This does not only imply a conclusive move away from time-tested holistic pre-Covid approaches to managing infectious disease outbreaks. It is also highly likely that it will bring the revised IHR and the new treaty into conflict with states’ duties to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, as well as with WHO’s responsibilities for human rights.

Amrei Müller is currently a lecturer/assistant professor at Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland. She has obtained a PhD in Law from the University of Nottingham, UK. She has researched and published extensively in the area of human rights law, including on international, European and comparative human rights law, the (democratic) institutional dimensions of human rights law, and the human rights to health and science (including in global health emergencies and WHO context).

See also: https://people.ucd.ie/amrei.muller