WHO pandemic treaty and International Health Regulations

Based on the mandate given to it by its Member States, the World Health Organization (WHO) has a key coordinating role in combating pandemics and other large-scale health emergencies. The WHO may assist its Member States in health emergencies upon their request. In addition, the Member States may draw up international treaties within the WHO framework. An example of such a treaty is the WHO International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), which were drawn up to combat cross-border health threats. Finland brought the IHR into force in 2007.
 

The purpose of the pandemic treaty and the IHR amendments is not to change the competence of the WHO under the WHO Constitution in relation to the nation states but to intensify cooperation between the Member States and with the WHO and to strengthen national preparedness. Now, the WHO may, for example, declare a global public health emergency on the basis of expert assessments, which is intended to serve as an alert to the Member States. There is currently no similar mechanism for declaring a pandemic. The WHO provides advice and guidance to its Member States and supports them in responding to emergencies, especially in the early stages. 

At the global level, preparedness, readiness and healthcare capacity is inadequate. The purpose of the pandemic treaty is to commit the Member States to capacity building and to improve the structures of cooperation. The organisation of healthcare and preparedness will continue to fall within the scope of national competence.

Finland considers it important that global pandemic preparedness and readiness be improved in all countries. Pandemics can begin in different ways and in different parts of the world. Because of this, it is important to identify and manage them so that the spread of an infectious disease can be stopped or limited. The treaty can also enhance international cooperation between different operators and sectors. It is essential that cooperation in crises works well and is effective.

Finland considers that the pandemic treaty should strengthen global justice and international cooperation. During the negotiations, Finland has stressed that the pandemic treaty should primarily address issues that are not covered by other existing mechanisms. Issues related to health security require strong national commitment and ownership from all Member States.  It is also important to respect national competence in the future, even though international cooperation in, and the normative framework for, health security are strengthened. No obligations or powers restricting national competence during a health threat should be included in the treaty. The role of the Member States in defining health policy and organising health services must be taken into account.

The issue of putting WHO funding on a more sustainable basis will be discussed separately during other processes. WHO funding relies largely on the biggest donors, with a large proportion of the funding earmarked for specific areas of work. The lack of flexibility and predictability in funding makes the Organization’s work more difficult. For a long time, membership fees have accounted for less than 20 per cent of the WHO's total budget. For this reason, the World Health Assembly made a decision in spring 2022 to gradually increase the Member States' assessed contributions (membership dues) by 2031 at the latest. This will help to ensure a more sustainable funding base. In addition, efforts will be made to improve the efficiency of the Organization’s activities. 

Finland participates in the negotiations as part of the European Union, which forms the common positions for the negotiations. Finland takes an active part in forming the EU’s common positions.  According to a preliminary assessment, the pandemic treaty and the possible amendments to the IHR would include provisions that fall within the competence of both the EU and the Member States.  

Parliament has been kept informed of the progress of both negotiations at their different stages, and Parliament takes part in forming Finland’s positions for the negotiations.

The aim is to conclude the negotiations on the pandemic treaty and the IHR amendments so that they could be adopted at the World Health Assembly in May 2024. The World Health Assembly is comprised of all the WHO Member States. As a rule, the World Health Assembly makes its decisions by consensus. This means that all the Member States would have to approve the decision on both the pandemic treaty and the IHR amendments.

However, if the Assembly is unable to reach a decision in either case by consensus, the voting procedure under the WHO Constitution will apply. It is likely that the adoption of the pandemic treaty will require a two-thirds majority of the Members present at the World Health Assembly.

After the World Health Assembly has adopted the pandemic treaty and the amendments to the IHR, each WHO Member State will process and commit to them in accordance with its constitutional processes. The international pandemic treaty will not enter into force until a sufficient number of Member States, as defined in the treaty, have ratified it.