Fri Sep 20 08:00:04 UTC 2024: ## World Health Assembly Violates International Law in Adopting IHR Amendments

The World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted far-reaching amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) on June 1st, 2024, but the process violated international law, according to legal experts Dr. Amrei Müller and Dr. Silvia Behrendt.

The IHR requires that the final text of amendments be circulated to all member states four months before the WHA considers them, allowing for thorough review. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat and the Working Group on the Amendments of the International Health Regulations (WGIHR) negotiated the amendments right up to the start of the WHA, disregarding the four-month period.

The WHO Secretariat attempted to justify this by claiming that they circulated initial proposals in November 2022, 17 months prior to the WHA. However, the experts argue that these were not the final texts, and the WHO Secretariat had no intention to circulate them under the remit of Article 55(2) IHR at the time.

This violation of international law raises serious concerns about the WHO’s commitment to transparency and the rule of law, say the experts. This action also disregards the WHO’s constitutional obligation to act in conformity with the UN Charter, which includes upholding justice and respecting obligations arising from international law.

Further analysis of the content of the amendments will be provided in Part II of this article.

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