Dear John,
Just on the heels of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organizations is angling for more power to control how countries handle public health crises—and the Biden administration wants to hand it over.
On January 18, 2022, the Biden administration submitted amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) which will be considered at next week's meeting of the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. These amendments will, among other things, grant unilateral authority to declare public health emergencies of international or regional concern to the WHO’s Director General. This would be a dangerous and unprecedented transfer of the power that rightly belongs to the United States to an unelected U.N. technocrat.
In addition to these new IHR amendments, the Biden administration has expressed support for the negotiation of a new international pandemic “instrument” (which will likely take the form of a treaty) over the next two years which is intended to confer extensive and increasing powers to the WHO.
The WHO has demonstrated a gross level of incompetence over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been shamelessly subservient to the political wishes of the Chinese Communist Party. If the pandemic taught us anything, it certainly taught us not to trust the WHO and make it more powerful.
One thing is clear—the United States must not surrender national sovereignty to the WHO. If these IHR amendments—and a possible pandemic treaty—move forward, it will further empower the WHO’s top-down, technocratic decision-making structure that shows little respect for human rights, including the rights of conscience, religious freedom, and the liberty of persons based on informed consent. This is not only a threat to America, but a threat to freedom worldwide.
Thankfully, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) are leading a letter to push back against the Biden administration’s IHR amendments. Please take action and tell your Senators and Representatives to support Sen. Daines’ and Sen. Cotton’s letter and to raise their concerns with the White House.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at FRC Action
