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TWN
Info Service on Health Issues (Feb24/06) WHO: WGIHR to hold dedicated session on equity-related amendment proposals 16 February, Geneva (TWN) – The seventh meeting of the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 (WGIHR) suspended its 7th meeting on 9 February as the Bureau proposed to hold a dedicated session on equity-related amendment proposals in March. This will be soon after the 8th meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) that is working in parallel on a pandemic instrument. The Working Group welcomed this proposal. The Bureau could not conduct informal consultations and circulate textual proposals on amendments relating to equity before the 7th Meeting of WGIHR (WGIHR7) that took place on 5-9 February. The textual proposals relating to Articles 13, 13A, 44 and 44A were supposed to be circulated before the beginning of WGIHR7, but this was not done. The Bureau, however, managed to circulate and discuss text on Articles 13 and 44 during the second week of February. The Co-Chairs have now promised to come up with text proposals addressing Article 13A and 44A and a resumed session will be conducted sometime between 4 and 15 March to discuss these. Although there are certain equity-related elements in other amendment proposals with respect to Articles 15-18, 42 and 43, the major amendment proposals pertain to Articles 13, 13A, 44 and 44A. The former category of amendment proposals was discussed during WGIHR7. WGIHR7 adopted an interim report on 9 February, which reads thus: “The Working Group further agreed that a dedicated session should be held to discuss the Bureau’s textual proposals on Article 13A and 44A and other Articles addressing equity not covered during the week. The Working Group supported the Bureau proposal to suspend this seventh meeting of the WGIHR and to hold a resumed session ahead of its 8th meeting. The date which is proposed to be during the period 4-15 March 2024 and the modalities would be determined and announced by the WHO Secretariat as soon as possible. Article 13A and 44A will also be considered by the Drafting Group on the first day of WGIHR8, taking into account the discussions in INB8 and INB9.” TWN reported during WGIHR7 that the WHO Secretariat had drafted certain text proposals on Article 13A and 44A, mainly recommending to delete the proposals by suggesting to link the elements proposed under these Articles to various other provisions in IHR 2005 and also to provisions that are being currently negotiated in the INB in the context of development of a proposed pandemic instrument. However, the Bureau rejected these proposals as the recommendation was not supplemented with a mapping of the elements proposed under Articles 13A and 44A to the existing IHR 2005 provisions. When the Co-chairs consulted the proponents of these amendments about the text developed by the Secretariat, the proponents clearly conveyed that the Secretariat or Bureau cannot suggest deleting the textual proposals in exchange for a promise that some of these ideas will be dealt with in the new pandemic instrument being developed. The scope of the two instruments differ significantly and therefore elements of equity should be substantively addressed in IHR 2005. The proponents also referred to the mandate under the Executive Board resolution EB150.3, which requires States Parties to IHR 2005 to amend the regulations to address the equity gaps. Although the Bureau managed to come back to the proponents with a text proposal relating to Article 44A, the proponents are not fully convinced about that text. Article 13A, on the other hand, is still pending in the drafting stage. Therefore, both the text proposals were not circulated during the 5-9 February session. The way forward is that these text proposals will be circulated in the coming days and will be negotiated through a dedicated resumed season of WGIHR7. Further, according to the interim report, the intersessional period will be used by the Working Group, with the support of the Bureau and WHO Secretariat to conduct the following: (a) Discussions amongst various proponents of the amendment proposals, with the aim to present outcomes to the next meeting; (b) Discussions with relevant subgroups of the INB developing a new international legal instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response on issues of common interest; (c) Intersessional Briefings, facilitated intersessional consultations, and joint intersessional work with the INB; (d) Preparation by the Bureau, with the assistance of the Secretariat, of draft text proposals for consultation at the 8th meeting of WGIHR, without prejudice to the status of the amendment proposals made by the States; and (e) WGIHR-INB joint plenary session at the 8th meeting of the INB. Egypt on behalf of the Group of Equity Member States reminded the floor about the mandate of the WGIHR under resolution EB150.3 which requires it to address the gaps relating to equity and welcomed the Bureau’s proposal to have a dedicated session on equity-related amendment proposals. India on behalf of the South-East Asian Region countries supported the statement made by the Group of Equity and welcomed the Bureau’s proposal to have the dedicated session, and suggested that additional informal sessions could be organized, if required. Ethiopia, on behalf of 47 Member States of the African Region and Egypt, said that they remain committed to having meaningful amendments to IHR 2005, which would include equity. They also request constructive engagement for all delegations in pushing this (equity) agenda to the last mile. The European Union, the United States and Norway took the floor to promise constructive engagement, while Switzerland reminded the floor that WGIHR is only working on targeted amendments and cannot reopen the scope of the IHR 2005.
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