More than 20 heads of government and global agencies in a commentary published Tuesday last week called for an international treaty for pandemic preparedness that they say will protect future generations in the wake of COVID-19.
But there were few details to explain how such an agreement might actually compel countries to act more cooperatively.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, Premier Mario Draghi of Italy and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda proposed “a renewed collective commitment” to reinforce preparedness and response systems by leveraging the UN health agency’s constitution.
Photo: AFP 照片:法新社
International regulations governing health and implemented by the WHO already exist — and can be disregarded by countries with few consequences. Despite an obligation for nations to share critical epidemic data and materials quickly with the WHO, for example, China declined to do so when the coronavirus first broke out. And with no enforcement powers, WHO officials had little means of compelling them to share details, an AP investigation last year found. Steven Solomon, the WHO’s principal legal officer, said the proposed pandemic treaty would need to be ratified by lawmakers in the participating countries. European Council President Charles Michel first laid out the idea of a pandemic treaty at the UN General Assembly in December last year.
Although the 25 signatories of the commentary called for “solidarity,” and greater “societal commitment,” there was no indication any country would soon change its own approach to responding to the pandemic. China, Russia and the United States didn’t join in signing the statement.(AP)
有鑒於武漢肺炎(新型冠狀病毒病,COVID-19)之教訓,二十多位政府與全球機構負責人在上週二發表的評論書中,呼籲制訂國際條約,以後面對疫情便能有備無患,以保護未來的世代。
但是,如何讓此協議實際上迫使各國採取行動更加合作,幾乎沒有細節說明。
世界衛生組織秘書長譚德塞,以及包括英國首相強森、義大利總理德拉吉和盧安達總統卡加梅在內的領導人提出「新的共同承諾」,以透過此聯合國衛生機構之章程來加強備災及應對系統。
世衛組織已實施衛生相關之國際法規,然而,不遵循這些法規的國家,也不會面對什麼嚴重後果。例如,儘管各國有義務與世衛組織立即共享重要的流行病數據及資料,但在冠狀病毒爆發之初,中國拒絕履行此義務。美聯社去年的一項調查發現,由於沒有執法權,世衛組織官員幾乎沒有辦法強迫中國分享細節。世衛組織首席法務官索羅門表示,擬制定的疫病國際條約須經由參加國之立法者批准。制訂疫病國際條約的構想,是由歐洲高峰會主席米歇爾在去年十二月的聯合國大會上首次提出。
儘管簽署該評論書的二十五國呼籲「團結」及更大的「社會承諾」,但並無跡象顯示有任何國家會很快改變應對疫情的方式。中國、俄羅斯與美國也並未加入簽署該聲明的行列。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
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