On Monday afternoon, 9 September 2024, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered this statement on the legal architecture of the proposal for the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
KEI has an open mind regarding the appropriate nature of the instrument or instruments for one or more agreements. An Article 19 treaty will carry more legal authority for many member states, which has advantages, but in some forms and for some countries, the ratification of a treaty will be challenging, and may take considerable time.
The current proposals for reservations in Article 27, Amendments in Article 29, and Annexes and Protocols in Articles 30 and 31, provide for considerable flexibility to create a combination of universal norms and mechanisms to cooperate, and for the progressive implementation of measures. Given how divided members are on so many points, this seems like a useful way forward.
The benefit sharing provisions in the PABS are attempts to create equity provisions that are only binding on parties voluntarily entering into contracts. KEI would prefer that the most important equity provisions be included in other chapters, and not be contingent upon contracts involving access to a repository or database. KEI strongly supports the rapid and broad dissemination of information about pathogens, including to researchers and companies that would be new to the field or tasks at hand.
KEI urges governments blocking equity measures in other chapters to reflect on how those actions have driven equity measures into the PABS chapter, and if that suits their objectives.