“In law, we make a distinction between duty and duty. There is an obligation of ‘ought’ under Article 8,” Habibi said. “It’s strongly encouraged, it’s good practice, it’s moral to do it. But is it a strict legal requirement? Potentially, one could argue that there is freedom here.”
But, in light of what the world has experienced during Covid-19, “you can see what an error of judgment it was,” added Habibi, who is also a member of the Ottawa Center for Health Law Policy and Ethics.
No application tools
Even if Russia did not comply with the requirements imposed by the rules, there would be little the WHO could do.
“We are the secretariat of the member states and we are implementing your wishes,” Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO director of health emergency alert and response operations, told members of the European Parliament last week.
“Whether it’s WHO implementation or monitoring of the (International Health Regulations), we don’t have that power. The IHR relies on member state verification,” he said.
One thing the WHO can do is “publicly denounce” countries that fail to comply with treaties, Gostin said — as it has done in statements laying out deadlines and unanswered questions.
Gn Health
