New Zealand and up to three other countries have rejected controversial amendments, proposed in 2022 by the Biden administration to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR).

Critics warned the proposed amendments, approved last year by the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA), give the WHO too much power and increase the likelihood that future proposals – including the currently pending 2023 IHR amendments and the “WHO Pandemic Agreement,” or pandemic treaty – will also pass.

WHO member-states had a December 1, 2023, deadline to reject the 2022 amendments. New Zealand attorney Kirstin Murfitt told The Defender “New Zealand rejected the amendment, which related to the reduced timeframe of future amendments.”

“In May 2022, the WHA voted to adopt the amendment to Article 59 of the IHR (and consequently other articles), which reduces the timeframe for future amendments to come into force from 24 to 12 months. Consequently, the period to reject or reserve future amendments was reduced from 18 months to 10 months,” Murfitt said.

For states that did not reject the amendments by December 1, 2023, “the amendment comes into force in May 2024 by way of ‘tacit acceptance,’” Murfitt added.

Other experts said their rejection by up to four countries may be indicative of broader obstacles the WHO faces in ongoing negotiations for both proposals.

Independent journalist James Roguski said the WHO scheduled new negotiation meetings after falling behind on its own legally binding timeline due to member-states’ disagreements over “equity” – as evidenced by developments at last week’s meeting of the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (WGIHR).

Recent statements by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also suggest a growing unease with the progress of negotiations and the likelihood of reaching an agreement on the proposed 2023 IHR amendments and “pandemic agreement” by this year’s WHA, scheduled for May 27 to June 1.

Others, including Representative Chris Smith (Republican – New Jersey) and Representative Brad Wenstrup (Republican – Ohio), warned during a February 5 press conference that the proposed instruments pose a fundamental threat to national sovereignty, including that of the US.

Documents obtained from the government of New Zealand via a freedom of information request and shared with The Defender by Australian attorney Katie Ashby-Koppens confirm that, on November 30, 2023, New Zealand formally notified the WHO that it rejected the 2022 IHR amendments.

A November 30, 2023, email from Andrew Forsyth, manager of Public Health Strategy at New Zealand’s Public Health Agency, to the Office of the WHO’s Director-General, stated:

“This document notifies New Zealand’s rejection of the amendments to Article 59 of the Regulations, as adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2022.

“Following New Zealand’s General Election on 14 October 2023, this step is being taken to give the incoming government the opportunity to consider the amendments. It may not be the government’s final decision. Please be advised that New Zealand will remain a constructive participant in the current, substantive WGIHR negotiations.”

The agreement between the parties in New Zealand’s governing coalition stipulated that New Zealand would lodge a “reservation” against the 2022 IHR amendments.

Ashby-Koppens has worked with New Zealand’s Voices For Freedom in opposing the WHO’s proposals. She told The Defender “reservations” — a declaration by a state under international law that it reserves the right not to abide by certain provisions of a treaty — against new amendments, are not foreseen under the current IHR.

“New Zealand did the right thing and rejected the amendments in time,” she said.

A November 29, 2023, letter from the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations, also released as part of the same freedom of information request, notified the WHO director-general of “New Zealand’s rejection of the amendments.”

“New Zealand has rejected these so its new government can conduct its own assessments of the amendments,” Ashby-Koppens said, adding that in doing so, New Zealand became the third of four countries to reject the 2022 IHR amendments.

According to Door to Freedom, an advocacy group opposing the WHO’s proposed instruments, Iran also rejected the 2022 IHR amendments.

“Iran notes that they rejected the May 2022 amendments because they reduce the amount of time for reservation or rejection,” Door to Freedom wrote. Door to Freedom was founded last year by Dr Meryl Nass, a member of the Children’s Health Defence scientific advisory committee.

During last week’s WGIHR meeting, the Russian delegation also confirmed that four countries rejected the 2022 IHR amendments, stating: “We’d like to point out the Director-General’s letter that four countries have not joined amendments adopted two years ago at the WHA,” according to Roguski.

The other two countries that rejected the amendments have not publicly been revealed.

Roguski said the 2022 amendments were not passed per the WHO’s procedures. He previously wrote that after a set of IHR amendments was rejected in 2022, a different package of amendments was “illegitimately submitted” with the support of the Biden administration. Five of those were passed.

“These are completely void and illegitimate,” Roguski said. “No one has said a word. The U.S. Senate did not say a single word about that.”

According to Door to Freedom, for countries that have rejected the 2022 IHR amendments, “future amendments to the IHR will not come into force until 24 months after approval (not 12 months) and these nations have 18 months (not 10 months) to reject or make a reservation against all future amendments.”

• The Defender report