A week before the World Health Assembly is due to meet, more than 100 high-profile people have signed an open letter to leaders of WHO member states calling for an urgent agreement on a pandemic accord.
“An agreement is meant to be reached just two and a half months from now – countries imposed a deadline of May 2024, in time for the 77th World Health Assembly,” the letter states. And continues:
“As countries now enter what should be the final stages of the negotiations, they must ensure that they are agreeing on actions which will do the job required: to prevent and mitigate pandemic threats.
“We urge solutions which ensure both speed in reporting and sharing pathogens, and in access – in every country – to sufficient tools like tests and vaccines to protect lives and minimise harm.”
In total, 107 people signed the letter. Signatories include 16 Club de Madrid members, 9 Global Leadership Foundation members, 46 Nizami Ganjavi International Centre members and a variety of academics and former politicians, including the former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
WHO’s Actions are Unlawful
The World Health Organisation’s (“WHO’s”) Pandemic Accord is also referred to as the Pandemic Treaty and WHO Convention Agreement + (“WHO CA+”).
From 27 May to 1 June 2024, WHO is due to convene its 77th World Health Assembly (WHA”). The WHA is WHO’s main decision-making body. The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (“IHR”) amendments and the text of the Pandemic Treaty will be presented to the 77th WHA. WHO and its backers will be hoping that both the Treaty text and the IHR will be adopted.
In 2023, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health highlighted the two issues that dominated discussions during the 76th WHA: new ways to fund the “cash-strapped” WHO and the rewriting process for the pandemic response playbook.
The rewriting of the rules that will lead to the establishment of a pandemic accord will dominate discussions again this year. The pandemic accord negotiations coincide with negotiations on IHR amendments. These 2-track negotiations often involve the same diplomats. Johns Hopkins described the difference, in their view, between the two proposed instruments:
The IHR are mostly seen as technical rules for disease surveillance, and negotiations are underway about making targeted amendments that could expand the IHR’s scope to also include equity considerations and other issues. The pandemic accord, on the other hand, is seen as a broader instrument that could also consider a host of other issues including intellectual property and One Health issues, for example.
The 2023 World Health Assembly: A New Playbook for Health Emergencies? Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 18 May 2023
Five months after its 76th WHA, on 7 October 2023, WHO released a statement in which it declared it would not share the finalised IHR amendments with the public and WHO member states four months before the vote on it in May 2024 as WHO’s own rules require. Dr. Silvia Behrendt pointed out that this is unlawful.
What is the Club de Madrid?
Club de Madrid is the world’s largest forum of former heads of state and government and is composed of 126 members from 73 countries, including 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, 14 leaders of regional and international organisations and 6 former UN special envoys on climate change. You can view a list of members HERE.
Since October 2019, Danilo Türk has been Club de Madrid’s president. Türk was the President of Slovenia from 2007 until 2012. Before becoming Slovenia’s president, he was Permanent Representative to the UN in New York and represented Slovenia on the UN Security Council and served as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. In 2016, he was one of the candidates for the post of the Secretary-General of the UN. In 2022, Türk was named one of the 12 people who are part of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism Comprises, which will be asked to build on the ideas in ‘Our Common Agenda’.
As Jacob Nordangård pointed out, “Our Common Agenda and the Pact for the Future can be seen as the United Nations’ answer to the call for a Great Reset that was announced in June 2020 by Klaus Schwab, António Guterres and Prince Charles (now King Charles III).”
What is the Global Leadership Foundation?
The Global Leadership Foundation (“GLF”) is a not-for-profit foundation, registered in Switzerland and founded in 2004 by FW de Klerk, former president of the Republic of South Africa.
GLF “exists to make available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today’s national leaders,” its website states. It does this through its network of members – former presidents, prime ministers, senior government ministers and other leaders. “Working in small teams, in their personal capacity, [GLF] members offer private and confidential advice to heads of government,” GLF says. You can view a list of GLF members HERE.
GLF’s supporters are called the International Council, a group of companies, people and foundations, invited by GLF’s chair. “The level of involvement of the International Council is at their discretion,” GLF declares. It implies that “support” is advisory. It doesn’t explicitly state whether “support” also involves monetary support. Although on another page of its website, GLF does state that their “costs are met through donations from private individuals, corporations and other foundations” and “donors are invited to join GLF’s International Council.”
You can see a full list of GLF’s supporters HERE. The newest members of the International Council are:
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Sir Ronald Cohen
- The Hunter Foundation
- Oren Taylor
- Sanofi
Since October 2021, Helen Clark has been the chair of the Global Leadership Foundation. Clark was the prime minister of New Zealand between 1999 and 2008. From 2009 to 2017 she was the United Nations Development Programme (“UNDP”) Administrator. She was also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group. In 2019, Clark became patron of The Helen Clark Foundation. GLF describes her as “a global leader in sustainable development and gender equality.”
What is the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre?
The involvement of Nizami Ganjavi International Centre (“NGIC”) members signing the open letter to leaders of WHO member states is where things become curious, if not bizarre.
Established in 2012, NGIC claims to be a cultural, non-political organisation dedicated to the memory of the 12th century Muslim poet Neẓāmī Ganjavi and the study and dissemination of his works.
Among its partners, NGIC boasts the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, the UN, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (“UNAIDS”) which is “leading the global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.” To this aim, UNAIDS brings together the efforts and resources of 11 UN system organisations.
NGIC co-chairs are psychologist Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former president of Latvia, and Ismail Serageldin, former vice president of the World Bank.
Vaira Vike-Freiberga is a former president of the Club de Madrid (1999-2007). While president of Latvia she was instrumental in achieving Latvia’s membership in the European Union (“EU”) and NATO, and was Special Envoy on UN reform. In addition to NGIC, she is a member, board member or patron of 29 international organisations, including the World Leadership Alliance and the European Council on Foreign Relations, as well as five academies. She was an official candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General in 2006.
Since the end of her presidency in Latvia in 2007, Vike-Freiberga has been vice chair of the Reflection group on the long-term future of Europe, chaired the high-level group on freedom and pluralism of the media in the EU and was a member of two high-level groups on European security and defence.
Ismail Serageldin is a founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He has held many international positions including as vice president of the World Bank, co-chair of the African Union’s high-level group for biotechnology and again for science, technology and innovation, and was a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) panel for the review of the internet future.
Open Letter to WHO Member States
Gordon Brown published the letter on his website. Brown, a former prime minister of the United Kingdom, is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and, since September 2021, has also been serving as WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing.
According to his website, one of Brown’s campaigns is globalisation. His globalisation campaign webpage states: “Globalisation … has been and is one of the defining themes of Gordon’s life in politics … Globalisation triggered a decades-long transition to a predominantly knowledge and financial services economy, in which the pace of change constantly accelerates.”
The following is the open letter signed by 107 signatories. We have included the list of signatories at the end as, sometime in the future, it’ll be useful to know who urged for global tyranny to take hold under the pretext of pandemic preparedness.
Joint letter to leaders of WHO member states calling for an urgent agreement on a pandemic accord
20 March, 2024
To Leaders of WHO Member States,
The overwhelming lesson we learned from covid-19 is that no one is safe anywhere until everyone is safe everywhere – and that can only happen through collaboration. In response, the 194 countries which are members of the World Health Organisation decided in December 2021 to launch negotiations for a new international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, a Pandemic Accord, as a “global framework” to work together to prepare for and stem any new pandemic threat, including by achieving equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.
Negotiation of an effective pandemic accord is a much needed opportunity to safeguard the world we live in. Countries themselves have proposed this instrument, individual countries are negotiating it, and only countries will ultimately be responsible for its requirements and its success or failure.
Establishing a strong global pact on pandemics will protect future generations from a repeat of the millions of deaths and the social and economic devastation which resulted from a lack of collaboration during the covid-19 pandemic. All countries need what the accord can offer: the capacity to detect and share pathogens presenting a risk, and timely access to tests, treatments and vaccines.
An agreement is meant to be reached just two and a half months from now – countries imposed a deadline of May 2024, in time for the 77th World Health Assembly.
As countries now enter what should be the final stages of the negotiations, they must ensure that they are agreeing on actions which will do the job required: to prevent and mitigate pandemic threats. We urge solutions which ensure both speed in reporting and sharing pathogens, and in access – in every country – to sufficient tools like tests and vaccines to protect lives and minimise harm. The public and private sectors must work together towards the public good. This global effort is being threatened by misinformation and disinformation. Among the falsehoods circulating are allegations that the WHO intends to monitor people’s movements through digital passports; that it will take away the national sovereignty of countries; and that it will have the ability to deploy armed troops to enforce mandatory vaccinations and lockdowns. All of these claims are wholly false and governments must work to disavow them with clear facts.
It is imperative now to build an effective, multisectoral and multilateral approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response marked by a spirit of openness and inclusiveness. In doing so we can send a message that even in this fractured and fragmented world, cross-border co-operation can deliver global solutions to global problems.
We call on leaders of all countries to step up their efforts and secure an effective pandemic accord by May. A new pandemic threat will emerge – and there is no excuse not to be ready for it.
Signed …
Signatories
Key:
- *indicates membership of Club de Madrid
- ** Indicates membership of Global Leadership Foundation (Note: Brown published the name “Global Leadership Forum” however it appears this is a typo after reviewing the members of both organisations.)
- *** Indicates membership of NGIC
| Name | Title | |
| 1 | Carlos Alvarado* | President of Costa Rica (2018-2022) |
| 2 | Michelle Bachelet* | President of Chile (2006-2010) |
| 3 | Jan Peter Balkenende* | Prime Minister of The Netherlands (2002-2010) |
| 4 | Ban Ki-moon* | Eighth Secretary General of the United Nations |
| 5 | Joyce Banda* | President of Malawi (2012-2014) |
| 6 | Kjell Magne Bondevik* | Prime Minister of Norway (1997-2000; 2001-2005) |
| 7 | Kim Campbell* | Prime Minister of Canada (1993) |
| 8 | Alfred Gusenbauer* | Chancellor of Austria (2007-2008) |
| 9 | Seung-Soo Han* | Prime Minister of the Rep. of Korea (2008-2009) |
| 10 | Mehdi Jomaa* | Prime Minister of Tunisia (2014-2015) |
| 11 | Horst Köhler* | President of Germany (2004-2010) |
| 12 | Rexhep Meidani* | President of Albania (1997-2002) |
| 13 | Mario Monti* | Prime Minister of Italy (2011-2013) |
| 14 | Francisco Sagasti* | President of Peru (2020-2021) |
| 15 | Jenny Shipley* | Prime Minister of New Zealand (1997-1999) |
| 16 | Juan Somavía* | Ninth Director of the International Labour Organisation |
| 17 | Helen Clark** | Former Prime Minister of New Zealand |
| 18 | Micheline Calmy-Rey** | Former President of the Swiss Confederation |
| 19 | Baroness Lynda Chalker** | Former Minister of Overseas Development of the UK |
| 20 | Chester A. Crocker** | Former Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, USA |
| 21 | Marzuki Darusman** | Former Attorney General of Indonesia |
| 22 | Mohamed ElBaradei** | Former Vice President of Egypt |
| 23 | Gareth Evans** | Former Foreign Minister of Australia |
| 24 | Lawrence Gonzi** | Former Prime Minister of Malta |
| 25 | Lord George Robertson** | Former Secretary General of NATO |
| 26 | Gordon Brown | Former Prime Minister of the UK 2007-2010 |
| 27 | Vaira Vike-Freiberga*** | Co-Chair, NGIC; President of Latvia 1999-2007 |
| 28 | Ismail Serageldin*** | Co-Chair, NGIC; Vice President of the World Bank 1992-2000 |
| 29 | Kerry Kennedy*** | President, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights |
| 30 | Rosen Plevneliev*** | President of Bulgaria 2012-2017 |
| 31 | Petar Stoyanov*** | President of Bulgaria 1997-2002 |
| 32 | Chiril Gaburici*** | Prime Minister of Moldova 2015 |
| 33 | Mladen Ivanic*** | Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-2018 |
| 34 | Zlatko Lagumdzija*** | Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN; Prime Minister 2001-2002; Deputy Prime Minister 1993-1996, 2012-2015 |
| 35 | Rashid Alimov*** | Secretary-General Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 2016-2018 |
| 36 | Jan Fisher*** | Prime Minister of the Czech Republic 2009-2010 |
| 37 | Sir Tony Blair | Prime Minister of the UK 1997-2007 |
| 38 | Csaba Korossi*** | 77th President of the UN General Assembly |
| 39 | Maria Fernanda Espinosa*** | 73rd President of the UN General Assembly |
| 40 | Volkan Bozkir*** | 75th President of the UN General Assembly |
| 41 | Ameenah Gurib Fakim*** | President of Mauritius 2015-2018 |
| 42 | Filip Vujanovic*** | President of Montenegro 2003-2018 |
| 43 | Borut Pahor*** | President of Slovenia 2012-2022; Prime Minister 2008-2012 |
| 44 | Ivo Josipovic*** | President of Croatia 2010-2015 |
| 45 | Petru Lucinschi*** | President of Moldova 1997-2001 |
| 46 | Boris Tadic*** | President of Serbia 2004-2012 |
| 47 | Mirko Cvetkovic*** | Prime Minister of Serbia 2008-2012 |
| 48 | Dumitru Bragish*** | Prime Minister of Moldova 1999-2001 |
| 49 | Emil Constantinescu*** | President of Romania 1996-2000 |
| 50 | Nambaryn Enkhbayar*** | President of Mongolia 2005-2009 |
| 51 | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic*** | President of Croatia 2015-2020 |
| 52 | Gjorge Ivanov*** | President of North Macedonia 2009-2019 |
| 53 | Valdis Zatlers*** | President of Latvia 2007-2011 |
| 54 | Ana Birchall*** | Deputy Prime Minister of Romania 2018-2019 |
| 55 | Hikmet Cetin*** | Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1991-1994 |
| 56 | Jewel Howard Taylor*** | Vice President of Liberia 2018-2024 |
| 57 | Djoomart Otorbayev*** | Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan 2014-2015 |
| 58 | Julio Cobos*** | Vice President of Argentina 2007-2011 |
| 59 | Ouided Bouchmani*** | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2015 |
| 60 | Abdul Rauf AlRawabdeh*** | Prime Minister of Jordan 1999-2000 |
| 61 | Jadranka Kosor*** | Prime Minister of Montenegro 2009-2011 [Note: There is a typo on the list published by Gordon Brown. Jadranka Kosor was Prime Minister of Croatia, not Montenegro.] |
| 62 | Milica Pejanovic*** | Minister of Defence of Montenegro 2012-2016 |
| 63 | Mats Karlsson*** | Former Vice-President of the World Bank |
| 64 | Laimdota Straujuma*** | Prime Minister of Latvia 2014-2016 |
| 65 | Eka Tkeshelashvili*** | Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia 2010-2012, Minister of Foreign Affairs 2010 |
| 66 | Moushira Khattab*** | Former Minister of State for Family and Population of Egypt |
| 67 | Raimonds Vejonis*** | President of Latvia 2015-2019 |
| 68 | Ilir Meta*** | President of Albania 2017-2022 |
| 69 | Edmond Panariti*** | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Albania |
| 70 | Andris Piebalgs*** | European Commissioner for Development 2010-2014, European Commissioner for Energy 2004-2010 |
| 71 | Manuel Pulgar Vidal*** | Climate and Energy Global Leader at the World Wide Fund for Nature, Minister of Environment of Peru 2011-2016, President of COP20 |
| 72 | Yves Leterme*** | Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium 2008, 2009-201 |
| 73 | Rovshan Muradov*** | Secretary-General of the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre |
| 74 | Professor Erik Berglof | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 75 | Professor Justin Lin | Beijing University |
| 76 | Professor Bai Chong-En | Tsinghua School of Economics and Management Studies |
| 77 | Professor Robin Burgess | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 78 | Professor Shang-jin Wei | Columbia University |
| 79 | Professor Harold James | Princeton University |
| 80 | Ahmed Galal | Former Minister of Finance, Egypt |
| 81 | Professor Jong-Wha Lee | Korea University |
| 82 | Professor Leonhard Wantchekon | African School of Economics, Benin |
| 83 | Professor Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden | Mannheim University |
| 84 | Professor Kaushik Basu | Cornell University |
| 85 | Professor Bengt Holmstrom | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 86 | Professor Mathias Dewatripont | Université Libre de Bruxelles |
| 87 | Professor Dalia Marin | University of Munich |
| 88 | Professor Richard Portes | London Business School |
| 89 | Professor Chris Pissarides | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 90 | Professor Diane Coyle | University of Cambridge |
| 91 | Mustapha Nabli | Former Governor, Central Bank of Tunisia |
| 92 | Professor Wendy Carlin | University College London |
| 93 | Professor Gerard Roland | University of California, Berkeley |
| 94 | Professor Nora Lustig | Tulane University |
| 95 | Piroska Nagy-Mohacsi | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 96 | Professor Philippe Aghion | College de France |
| 97 | Professor Devi Sridhar | University of Edinburgh |
| 98 | Yu Yongding | Former President of China Society in the World Economy |
| 99 | Muhammad Yunus, | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2006 |
| 100 | Kailash Satyarthe, | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2014 |
| 101 | Sir Ivor Roberts | Former UK Ambassador |
| 102 | Sir Suma Chakrabarti | Former EBRD President |
| 103 | Sir Tim Hitchens | Former UK Ambassador |
| 104 | Alistair Burt | Former Minister for Health/International Development |
| 105 | Tom Fletcher | Former UK Ambassador |
| 106 | Julian Braithwaite | Former UK Perm Rep to WHO |
| 107 | John Casson | Former UK Ambassador |
