The World Health Organization is planning a lot of changes for 2024. Many people are focused on the pandemic treaty, but alongside that drafting process are changes to an already existing document: the International Health Regulations (IHR). And that document isn’t getting the attention it should.
The treaty doesn’t exist yet, and a lot of eyes are on the process. We have a Senate bill that would reassert the constitutional check and balance of Senate “advice and consent” before the U.S. can join a treaty. But the IHR is already in force and has already been amended without congressional input. With law, especially international law, we look to traditions and practices and those habits carry weight. The expectation is that it can and will happen again the same way.
The amendments proposed by the U.S. to the IHR in 2022 led the charge with around 40 other countries on board. (A summary of those amendments can be found here.) The proposals faced a lot of pushback around the globe because the proposed changes would immensely expand the reach and power of the WHO and, in particular, the unilateral authority of the unelected director general. Most of the amendments were tabled for future discussion, but one did go through in 2022 and will soon be in force. That amendment dramatically shortened the timeline for further amending the document and how quickly countries will be expected to comply.
Countries have until November 28, 2023, to reject the amendment or to make a formal statement for the record about conditional acceptance – that’s called a reservation.
In 2005, the last time the IHR was amended, the U.S. made a reservation.
The U.S. made a reservation in 2005 to protect states’ rights and our Constitution. President George W. Bush put on record at the World Health Organization meeting that we would cooperate with the agreement only to the extent it did not interfere with our Constitution and, in particular, states’ dominion over public health and welfare of individuals.
The U.S. can, and should, recommit to that same reservation to protect our Constitution.
Many worry, and with good reason, that any agreements with the WHO at this point will be an attack on American sovereignty. In other words, we don’t want an unelected, distant, individual, or global body dictating health policy on our land. We are willing to cooperate, up to the point where our Constitution and the rights it protects are threatened.
This leviathan of global health can feel really heavy on the heart and mind. The globalist approach is fast, furious, and multi-headed. There’s more to this battle, for sure, but this is one strategic way we can strike back at one of the heads of this monster. The more people who participate the better. We must show them we are watching, holding leaders accountable to our Constitution, and willing to use our voices in solidarity against an attack on our rights.
A handful of psychotic despots are trying to make a global power grab, but there are billions of us standing in their way. Their play is to exhaust, confuse, and suppress our hearts and minds so we stop taking a stand. Further, they know the Constitution is their kryptonite.
The U.S. set the precedent for reaffirming our Constitution in the face of international public health agreements with the 2005 reservation. With this petition, we are putting the White House on notice that Americans are watching, and will hold them accountable for reasserting our Constitutional rights by ensuring that 2005 reservation remains in force, and gets updated along with any changes to the IHR that affect its language or meaning.
We will be prepared to use the petition in three ways:
- To send to the White House to show that Americans are watching and willing to join together to stop any threat to our Constitution.
- To support members of Congress who will uphold their oath of office by checking the president in overreach or unconstitutional agreements;
- To deliver to the Office of Global Affairs at U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), informing those who are directly negotiating the treaty and IHR, that this is a simple step they can take to protect Americans;, and we expect them to follow the precedent set by the previous administration, in updating and asserting the reservation for federalism.