Dear [Name of MP],

 

I am writing to ask that a debate to vote on whether to reject the amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR’05) (adopted in May 2022) be scheduled prior to the 1st December 2023 deadline. I trust you are aware that a petition to “hold a parliamentary vote on whether to reject amendments to the IHR 2005” closed on 3rd October 2023 having received 116,390 signatures. 

 

One of the amendments adopted by the WH O World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2022 reduces the timeframe during which a nation can “opt-out” of an amendment from the current eighteen (18) months to the ten (10) months. Further future amendments, in the absence of rejection, will come into force in twelve (12) months rather than the current twenty-four (24) months after being adopted by the WHA. 

 

Unless rejected by the UK government, the new shorter timelines will apply to the raft of amendments (currently standing at 307) which will be voted on at 77th W H O WHA in May 2024. The shortening of this timeline should be of great concern to all politicians.

 

Article 61 of the IHR affords the UK a simple process to reject amendments. A simple one-line letter from Rishi Sunak to the Director-General of the WHO notifying him that the UK is “opting-out” of the May 2022 amendments will suffice and will slow down the relentless power grab by the WHO. 

 

I encourage you to read the amendments adopted at the May 2022 75th WHA and those amendments currently in discussion (I have provided links to both below along with a summary of some of the major concerns).

 

A separate serious concern regards the intention revealed at a recent meeting by the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (WGIHR), to breach international law by ignoring Article 55.2 which provides that any proposed amendment to the IHR shall be communicated to the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) at least four (4) months before the WHA at which it is proposed for consideration.

 

However, the WGIHR has elected to continue to work on the 307 amendments up to the 77th WHA in May 2024 thereby ignoring the January 2024 deadline. Clearly, this gives countries no time to consider the proposed amendments before having to vote on their adoption. 

This circumventing of a legally binding international obligation is a blatant abuse of the rule of law by an unelected, unaccountable, largely unknown supranational organisation.

 

The WHO, through the amendments to the IHR, seeks to impose authoritarian rules on a global scale thus removing the right the people have to self-determination (in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations). The amendments must be rejected. The UK must opt-out.

 

I ask that you:

 

1. Lobby Rishi Sunak to reject the amendments adopted at the 75th WHA in May 2022 by utilising Article 61 of the IHR ahead of the 1st of December deadline; and

 

1. Ensure that the Parliamentary debate, demanded by the people, is scheduled as soon as possible. 

 

When it comes to the IHR, silence is compliance. You must speak up for your constituents.

 

Best regards,

 

[insert name]

[insert address]

 

 

75th WHA amendments to the IHR: https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA75/A75_R12-en.pdf

 

Article by article compilation of propose amendments to the IHR: https://apps.who.int/gb/wgihr/pdf_files/wgihr1/WGIHR_Compilation-en.pdf

 

Summary of some of the most concerning proposed amendments to the IHR:

https://www.ukcitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Analysis-of-the-Amendments-to-the-international-health-regulations-FINAL-v2.pdf

 

Previous letter regarding a breach of international law by the WGIHR: https://www.ukcitizen.org/breach-of-international-law-by-the-world-health-organization/

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