Italy Rejects the IHR Amendments

I was able to obtain screenshots of the Italian newspaper La Verita’s report of Italy’s decision to reject the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations.

The quality of the image of the first part of the article was not clear enough to translate, but I was able to translate the continuation of the article on page 13.

My thanks to Chris D. for sharing this information with me.

Italy steps away from the WHO bandwagon

Schillaci rejects the amendments

In a letter to Ghebreyesus, the Minister of Health rejects the new provisions and restrictions that would have been imposed nationwide in the event of a pandemic. And that they would be used to limit our freedom.

(continues from the first page)

…from Health Minister Orazio Schillaci to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. A tombstone, at least on the part of the Meloni executive, on the claims to reduce the capacity of states to decide autonomously on the measures to be adopted in situations of pandemic emergency.

Italy’s categorical no to the amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) approved by the World Health Organization on June 1, 2024. Today, July 19, is the deadline by which Italy, like other WHO members, had to decide whether to accept or reject the amendments, and the formal refusal communicated by Schillaci, in agreement with Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, definitively removes the threat of new provisions and restrictions that would have undermined our national sovereignty.

The amendments rejected by the Italian government would have entered into force from next September 19, without the need for parliamentary procedure or further ratification. They would have been binding, bypassing democratic debate.

Citizens’ freedoms will be protected, promised the Minister of Health on the occasion of the National Day of Healthcare Workers, last February 20th. And so, fortunately, it was.

The refusal to delegate health policies and emergencies to the WHO under the banner of “One Health,” thus strengthening the role, discretion, and powers of mega-director Ghebreyesus, is causing a sigh of relief among citizens, associations, committees, doctors, and jurists who for months have been signaling the approaching July 19 deadline with repeated calls to reject the amendments en masse, without formulating reservations.

Countries that reject the amendments do not leave any regulatory gaps, with the current RSIs remaining in force. Nor would it mean leaving the WHO, but on the contrary it would be a strong signal of dissatisfaction (also with regard to censorship slips in the EU), which should hopefully be followed by the opening of a broad debate on the requested reforms, the independent medical-scientific commission (CMSI) has repeatedly highlighted.

The amendments will expand WHO’s ability to activate the International Health Regulations to declare Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC). Furthermore, the leaders of the organization will be able to formulate binding recommendations regarding quarantines or travel restrictions.

Rejecting these impositions safeguards our country’s autonomy in emergency health decisions, which are being centralized under the guise of a global and efficient response to new pandemics. Furthermore, Italy is thus avoiding the obligations of assistance and supply of health products in case of emergency, as foreseen by the WHO, which has exercised the discretion to order increases in production and distribution.

Last but not least, and indeed of fundamental importance, Italy’s “NO” extends to the amendments that, in the name of supposedly fighting disinformation, would have affected freedom of the press and citizens’ privacy during health emergencies. We have already seen during the COVID pandemic how quickly fundamental rights and freedoms were trampled upon, so imagine what the WHO would do to orchestrate the control of information.

Amendments, therefore, which if accepted would have represented a dangerous precedent of automatic adoption of international instruments on public health in our country.

“With this decision, Italy demonstrates great courage in clearly asserting its national sovereignty in defining health policies. We are not the only ones, in fact, to argue that the package of amendments to the International Health Regulations approved by consensus in 2024 grants excessive powers to the WHO at the political, organizational, and, last but not least, economic and financial levels,” underlined Undersecretary of Health Marcello Gemmato of the Fratella.

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There will be no more obligations to provide assistance or supplies in case of emergency.

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He then added: “Other nations, such as the United States, have chosen the same path. We reassure the nostalgic members of the Conte-Speranza duo: rejecting the changes to the regulation does not mean leaving the WHO. Italy, in fact, will continue to be a member of the organization and to apply the version of the regulation currently in force, thus cooperating internationally on health threats without, however, accepting impositions and constraints that would have had an enormous impact on our political and economic system.” Gemmato concluded his speech by thanking Minister Scillaci for the document he sent to Ghebreyesus.

https://www.laverita.info/