Australia’s sovereignty will not be impacted by the World Health Organisation’s health treaty, Australia’s Ambassador for Global Health Lucas de Toca said.
Labor Senator Varun Ghosh asked Dr. de Toca, who led the foreign affairs delegation in Geneva, if Australia’s sovereignty would be impacted by the International Health Regulations (IHR) or the proposed treaty.
In response Dr. de Toca said, “no, categorically no.”
Dr. de Toca explained the WHO is a member state organisation, which means that it’s the countries that constitute part of it who determine how it works.
“These amendments, or the International Health Regulations, are a binding legal instrument if a country decides to adopt them,” he said.
He said a 12 month process will now kick in where countries are able to, if they choose, ratify the instrument, or they can communicate with the WHO that they do not intend to be a party to the amendments.
“That follows the usual process that we have in Australia—scrutiny through the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties and then a discussion at parliament,” Dr. de Toca said.
“Our sovereignty is in no way impacted, and in a way it is even enhanced because we’re actively engaging in a system that acknowledges that no-one is safe unless everyone is safe.”
WHO Pandemic Treaty Does Not Investigate Gain of Function Research
Dr. de Toca also said the pandemic treaty does not specifically deal with gain of function research.Gain of function research involves modifying viruses in a lab to study how they evolve and cause disease. The research can be controversial due to the risk of accidental release of genetically modified viruses.
Coalition Senator Matt Canavan asked Dr. de Toca in Senate estimates if the IHR included anything to help deal with the “issue of gain-of-function research.”
Dr. de Toca responded there was nothing specifically in the regulations that tackled the issue.
“The International Health Regulations—there was some discussion about tech transfer. Those elements will be discussed in the pandemic agreement, but there is no specific mention of that particular type of research,” he said.
Delegation to the WHO
Dr. de Toca confirmed Australia’s delegation to the WHO, led by Health Minister Mark Butler, included representatives from both Department of Health and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.It is the first time in decades that Australia has had a minister at the World Health Assembly.
“The outcome of those processes was that the World Health Organization adopted, by consensus, a package of amendments to the International Health Regulations and also agreed on a process to finalise the work towards a pandemic agreement,” he said.
The Australian Ambassador for global health said having just come back from Geneva, he was “very excited to talk about this work.”
“This is exciting. It’s a triumph of multiculturalism. Despite our best efforts, diseases know no borders,” he said.
He said Australia has been very actively engaged in this process, with an overarching negotiating mandate to work on improving equity, detection, reporting, and sharing of information.
The new regulations include a definition of pandemic and improved systems for countries to share information.
“Up until these amendments come into effect, if a country is not cooperating with WHO and WHO has information on a potential risk of an epidemic, the WHO wasn’t able to share it,” Dr. de Toca said.
What Else Is in the IHR?
The amendments (pdf) reveals it contains a requirement for each member state to establish one or two entities that will serve as the National International Health Regulations Authority.This new authority shall be “accessible for communications” with WHO contact points at all times, according to the regulations.
The state parties shall also take measures to implement this national authority, including “adjusting their domestic legislative and/or administrative arrangements.”
