The World Health Organization could soon gain the powers to force the UK into lockdown under the forthcoming pandemic “treaty”, a number of MPs have warned.
Six members of the UK parliament have written to the country’s government urging them to reject a so-called pandemic “treaty” which will vastly expand the powers of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.).
Also known as the “Pandemic Accord“, the deal will see binding rules imposed on all member states of the World Health Organization forcing them to fight so-called “disinformation” and allocate five per cent of their annual health budget to preparing for the next global pandemic.
According to a report by The Telegraph, the six Conservative Party politicians also believe that the agreement will also see the W.H.O. given the power to unilaterally force the United Kingdom into lockdown if it so wishes, which they noted is a significant threat to the UK’s national sovereignty.
“There is, rightly, growing concern about the W.H.O.’s Pandemic Treaty and International Health Regulations,” Esther McVey, the MP who headed up the letter to the government, reportedly said, with the politician warning that there is evident ambition “for the W.H.O. to transition from an advisory organisation to a controlling international authority”.
“The plans represent a significant shift for the organisation, from a member-led advisory body to a health authority with powers of compulsion,” she continued. “This is particularly worrying when you consider the W.H.O.’s poor track record on providing consistent, clear and scientifically sound advice for managing international disease outbreaks.”
In response to the letter, Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell told The Telegraph that while the government did support the treaty, they would shoot down any measure involving the handing-over of sovereignty from the UK to the W.H.O.
“The UK is supportive of the pandemic treaty currently being negotiated by national governments, which could speed up the sharing of data on new pandemic threats so we are able to respond quickly in the event of future pandemics,” he claimed.
“We’re clear that we would never agree to anything that crosses our points of principle on sovereignty or prevents the UK from taking decisive action against future pandemics,” the official added.
However, under amendments currently being pushed internationally for the bill, there are proposals to make measures set out in the treaty “binding”, something that would effectively result in governments handing over partial control of health and budgetary body to the World Health Organization.
Such a sudden spike in the W.H.O.’s power has provoked concern within the United States, with some Republicans keen to prevent President Joe Biden from signing up to any agreement without consulting the Senate.
“The United Nations-linked World Health Organization is a corrupt organization that President Trump got us out of, but President Biden disgracefully rejoined,” Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) remarked during a push to force Biden to consult the legislature before signing up to the new agreement.
“The United States should be in charge of our own pandemic policy; we should never outsource that power to an international bureaucracy that behaves like a puppet of Communist China,” he added. “This legislation puts congressional oversight and transparency into what otherwise could be bad medicine for America’s public health.”
Other Republicans have even pushed for the U.S. to pull out of the W.H.O. entirely, pushing for the House Foreign Affairs Committee to take up two bills that would defund and withdraw America from the organisation earlier this week.