by TA DeFeo
Republican governors of twenty states, including Georgia and South Carolina, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden opposing the World Health Organization’s proposed “Pandemic Agreement,” which they said could “undermine national sovereignty” and states’ rights.
State authorities to argue the treaty “would aim to elevate WHO from an advisory body to a global authority on public health.” They argue that the proposed agreement could also allow the WHO to create a “global surveillance infrastructure” and force participants to censor free speech.
On Tuesday, 93.3 percent of voters in Georgia’s Republican primary said that “unelected and unaccountable international bureaucrats” like those at the WHO should not have “full control over the management of future pandemics in the United States or the authority to regulate health care and personal health choices.” The vote is non-binding but could set the course of legislative action when Peach State lawmakers meet again next year.
In their letter, the governors said that “if adopted, these agreements will aim to elevate WHO from an advisory body to a global authority on public health.
“Under the proposed amendments and treaty, the WHO Director-General would purportedly gain unilateral authority to declare a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC) in member countries, extending beyond pandemics and covering a range of perceived emergencies,” the governors added. “The proposals could undermine state sovereignty by giving the WHO Director-General the power to dictate responses to a declared PHEIC, depriving elected representatives of their role in setting public health policy and forcing citizens to follow WHO directives, potentially including treatment mandates.”
Governors Kay Ivey of Alabama, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Sarah Sanders of Arkansas, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Brad Little of Idaho, Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Tate Reeves of Mississippi , Greg Gianforte of Montana, Jim Pillen of Nebraska, Joe Lombardo of Nevada, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Bill Lee of Tennessee, The Greg List was signed by Abbott of Texas, Spencer Cox of Utah, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, Jim Justice of West Virginia and Mark Gordon of Wyoming.
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TA DeFeo is an associate at Central Square.
Photo “Gover. Brian Kemp” by Governor Brian Kemp. Photo “Gover. Henry McMaster” by Henry McMaster.
