Biden Should Not Surrender American Sovereignty to WHO: Rep. Smith

Rep. Chris Smith speaks as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington on March 10, 2021. Ken Cedeno/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has warned the Biden administration not to hand over U.S. sovereignty to the World Health Organization (WHO) as negotiations move forward for a global pandemic accord for its member nations.

“The Biden Administration must not empower bureaucrats of the WHO—a troubled United Nations body that took disastrous missteps in the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak—with a new binding agreement that would tie our hands in the event of a future pandemic,” Smith said in a March 2 statement.

Smith added, “Many American citizens remain rightfully alarmed that the Biden Administration is poised to cede our US sovereignty to a corrupt UN bureaucracy and its Chinese-backed Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus—and I share their grave concerns.”

The WHO repeated the Chinese regime’s talking points and praised its response during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak. In one example the health body repeated Beijing’s claim that the virus causing COVID-19 was not contagious, despite an email warning from Taiwan.

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Another example was their shared stance against travel restrictions. On Jan. 30, 2020, the WHO announced that it “does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available.” Beijing then used the WHO’s recommendation to criticize the United States for raising a travel advisory on China.

“The Biden Administration must commit to protecting US sovereignty and not cede decision-making to global elites who seek to override the American people,” Smith added.

“Instead of subjecting our great American government to an agenda-driven global bureaucracy, the Biden Administration must push for top-to-bottom reform at the WHO starting with the immediate ouster of Tedros—something I have repeatedly argued that is urgently needed now more than ever,” he concluded.

In response to Smith’s statement, a State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the Biden administration “will not support any measure at the World Health Organization, including in these negotiations, that in any way undermines U.S. sovereignty or security.”

“We will never compromise the right of American citizens to make their own health care decisions,” the spokesperson said. “Any accord resulting from these negotiations would be designed to increase the transparency and effectiveness of cooperation among nations during global pandemics and would in no way empower the World Health Organization or any other international body to impose, direct, or oversee national actions.”

WHO Accord

The United States and other WHO member states set up an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) in December 2021, with the aim of drafting an agreement to “strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”

The “Zero Draft” of the agreement (pdf), known as “WHO CA+,” was released on Feb. 1. The INB is holding a meeting this week and another in April to consider the draft, and the body will issue a report on the development of the accord to the 76th World Health Assembly in May, with a final report expected in 2024.

The draft agreement says it recognizes “the central role of WHO as the directing and coordinating authority” on international health work, including “pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and health systems recovery at national, regional and international levels.”

According to the text of the draft agreement, the WHO would appear not to have authority over member nations’ domestic pandemic policies.

“States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health, notably pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems, pursuant to their own policies and legislation, provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries,” the draft agreement reads. “Sovereignty also covers the rights of States over their biological resources.”

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The Biden administration has also denied that the draft agreement will give the health body any authority over U.S. health policies.

“It is false to claim that the World Health Organization has now, or will have by virtue of these activities, any authority to direct U.S. health policy or national health emergency response actions,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote in a statement to the press.

The department added, “The WHO has no such enforcement mechanisms, and its non-binding recommendations to member states are just that: non-binding. Any associated actions at the national level will remain reserved to sovereign states, including the United States.”

Legislation

Many Republicans have recently introduced legislation aiming to protect U.S. sovereignty against the WHO.

On Feb. 15, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and several of their GOP colleagues introduced a bill titled “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act.”

“This legislation would require any convention or agreement resulting from the work of the [WHO’s] intergovernmental negotiating body be deemed a treaty, requiring the advice and consent of a supermajority of the Senate,” according to a statement accompanying the legislation.

On Feb. 28, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with 14 of his GOP colleagues, introduced a Senate resolution, with a similar aim of preventing the president from ceding U.S. sovereignty to the WHO and other entities.

“The United States is a sovereign nation that cannot cede power to the deeply-flawed World Health Organization for any future health emergency. The WHO failed to hold China accountable for the global spread of COVID-19, which killed over 1 million Americans and thousands of Idahoans,” Risch said.

“This resolution makes clear the Senate must approve an international agreement—in any form—that requires new or expanded legal obligations in the U.S.”

This article has been updated with a comment from the State Department.