The UK operates under a dualist legal system meaning international treaties have no domestic legal effect unless incorporated into UK law through an Act of Parliament. In theory, therefore, the Agreement cannot directly affect UK citizens’ rights unless Parliament enacts legislation to give it effect domestically. Treaty Ratification Process (Constitutional Reform Governance Act 2010 (“CRAG”)…
On May 10th, 2025, the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) announced a finalised draft of the WHO Pandemic Agreement (the “Agreement”) after years of behind-closed-doors negotiations. Introduction On May 10th, 2025, the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) announced a finalised draft of the WHO Pandemic Agreement (the “Agreement”) after years of behind-closed-doors negotiations. Click here to read…
Consensus reached on the WHO Pandemic Agreement. Now we wait until the World Health Assembly in May where it will be presented to Member States for adoption. Introduction After more than three years of negotiations, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) concluded its final meeting on Tuesday 15th April 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. The result? Consensus…
Where are we now? 1) 13th Meeting of the INB held in Geneva, 17th to 21st February, 2025 (INB13) Ms Precious Matsoso of South Africa and Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou of France co-chaired INB13. As with all previous meetings of the INB, the opening session and adoption of the agenda and programme of work, report of…
INB13 is due to take place between 17th and 21st February 2025 but what is the current state of play? Where did it all start? A special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), held in December 2021, established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) (representing all regions of the world) and gave the INB a…
The resumed INB12 ended last week on 6th December 2024 after five days of negotiations. The unelected, unaccountable and largely unknown bureaucrats from the 194 WHO Member States (plus two observer states – the Holy See (Vatican City) and Palestine) given a mandate to negotiate a Pandemic Agreement were unable to reach consensus. Consequently, three…
This is a brief summary of the opening session of INB12. More information about the progress of the negotiations will be known at the end of the this week. Introduction The co-chairs of the INB, Precious Matzos and Anne-Claire Lamprou, opened the resumed INB 12 and then handed over to the Director-General of the WHO,…
As with previous INB meetings, the opening session, adoption of the agenda and programme of work, report of the meeting and closure of the session were publicly webcast. Relevant stakeholders were invited to join and contribute. The substantive negotiations and the “stocktake” on progress were held in “closed” session i.e. not open to the people. …
After almost three years of negotiations, we all know the process: the INB opens with a publicly webcast session which, for the most part, involves the various delegations thanking the INB Bureau, the Secretariat and each other for the progress made and then, after several long hours, the meeting moves into the “closed” substantive drafting…
A reminder that the 12th session of the INB commences in Geneva, Switzerland on 4th November 2024 where negotiations on the proposed Pandemic Agreement will continue. Whilst the INB has a mandate to continue negotiations through to the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2025, there is a desire amongst the unelected, unaccountable and…