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Michel champions new international treaty on pandemics

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European Council President Charles Michel has called for an international treaty on pandemic preparedness. In a joint op-ed written with the President of the WHO, Tedros Adhamon (30 March), he argues that the world needs to build a more robust international health architecture that will protect future generations. 

The proposal goes beyond the current pandemic and anticipates further major health emergencies. Michel said: “ No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone. The question is not if, but when. Together, we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.”

Michel said that the main goal 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 cooperation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research, and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health countermeasures, such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment.”

The proposal for an international treaty on pandemics was first announced by the European Council President, Charles Michel, at the Paris Peace Forum in November 2020.

It is hoped that an international treaty on pandemics adopted under the World Health Organization (WHO) would enable countries around the globe to strengthen national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics.

Once adopted by the WHO assembly, the treaty would have to be ratified by a requisite number of countries in order to come into force. It would only become legally binding for those countries that ratify it at a national level.

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Existing global health instruments, especially the International Health Regulations, would underpin the treaty. The guiding principles behind the proposal are collective solidarity, anchored in the principles of fairness, inclusiveness and transparency.

The treaty would set out the objectives and fundamental principles in order to structure the necessary collective action to fight pandemics and will build on already existing international health regulations, which were agreed in 2005 and entered into force in 2007.

An international treaty on pandemics would support and focus on: early detection and prevention of pandemics; resilience to future pandemics; response to any future pandemics, in particular by ensuring universal and equitable access to medical solutions, such as vaccines, medicines and diagnostics; a stronger international health framework with the WHO as the coordinating authority on global health matters; and, a "one health" approach, connecting the health of humans, animals and the planet. 

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