Assurances about not ceding sovereignty to the WHO miss the point
How to ask the right question - and some reading for your MP
Will we cede sovereignty to the WHO? Will we retain the right to make our own decisions? Turns out these are the wrong questions. The real question is: why would we necessarily want to follow the WHO’s recommendations, like children following the Pied Piper….?
In an earlier post on the question of sovereignty (to lose, or not to lose?) I promised a legal opinion. It is attached below and addresses the following questions:
What recommendations would the WHO be able to make?
Would WHO recommendations be binding on Australia?
Will parliament vote on the IHR amendments?
Do the IHR amendments involve Australia ceding sovereignty to the WHO?
Do the IHR amendments involve Australia deferring to the WHO in all its decision-making in relation to public health during a pandemic?
Please feel free to send the opinion to your MP (a draft letter referring to it is available here if you’d like to use it). The opinion is designed to counter the unhelpful briefing material that your MP will otherwise probably be relying on.
At the heart of these questions is a fundamental concern about Australia allowing the WHO to dictate our public health policy. The government’s assurances that Australia would not be ceding sovereignty and that will still be making our own health decisions may be technically correct, but they fail to address the fundamental concern – why would we want to commit to following the WHO’s recommendations?
Many, many Australians are frustrated that they keep getting the same reassurances - which completely miss the point. Let’s change up the language and press for a real answer. My suggestion - next time, ask your MP:
If an election was called on this issue today, would you be in support of option A or option B?
In an emergency, should we:
A) Do what the Director General of the WHO determines is best for everyone globally,
or
B) Do what we determine to be in our national interest, which may or may not be following the WHO’s recommendations?
So helpful and clear. It makes ALL the difference to ask the right question. We will be sending this out to all of our MPs. Thank you for all your work in providing this to us, Libby. Truly a lighthouse.
When I wrote in the strongest possible terms to my Federal MP at the outset of the COVID tyranny ( cautioning strongly against the experimental vaccinations unless the patient was at severe risk, fully informed that the intervention was experimental and all possible side effects explained and the patient STILL gave free consent) I was simply told that my letter had been referred to the Federal Health Minister. My MP showed no further interest.