Balancing public health and human rights
The International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, which finds its roots in the International Sanitary Conference 1851, is a legal instrument ratified by 196 member countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO), endeavours to: ‘Prevent, protect against, control, and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease.’ While its main objective is laudable – concerns arise about the potential erosion of human rights, dignity, and freedoms in its execution – this article provides a critique of these concerns, focusing on its ability to potentially censor information, which can negatively impact the fundamental principles of transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. By no means does this critique purport to be a conclusive and/or exhaustive discourse on the ideological underpinning socially constructing a perpetual state of global emergency, but it does represent the threat to human rights, dignity, and access to timely healthcare without the intervention of non-elected international bureaucrats with little to no accountability of the host nations.