What Is the WHO?

May 19, 2024 | Washington, D.C.

by Kristen A. Ullman, President, Eagle Forum

Ronald Reagan famously said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Updated for this century, the scariest statement is now, “I’m from the World Health Organization (WHO), and I’m here to help.” 

The WHO is now putting the final touches on two sovereignty-stealing instruments — the International Health Regulation (IHR) amendments and the proposed Pandemic Treaty. Under the pretext of pandemic preparedness, increasingly totalitarian policies are being rolled out, and our human rights are being trampled on.

The new treaty and amendments, which are being negotiated by the International Negotiating Body of the World Health Assembly, remove existing guarantees of human rights and freedoms during “designated emergencies” (which they get to define and declare), and transfer authority for managing pandemics from individual nations to the WHO.

The World Health Organization was founded in the 1940s and funded by nations that are members. It was to be organized on principles of human rights and under a general understanding that each country should be independent, each person equal, and that human agency and autonomy are fundamental to a good society.

This original feel-good empty rhetoric has been mugged by the reality that this approach does not allow the “elites” to dictate who is in control and make decisions for the rest of us. In the early 2000s, private groups, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, became major direct funders of the WHO, which started the era of “public-private partnership” and changed the nature of global public health. Gates and other non-governmental funders, including the World Economic Forum, can dictate what the WHO works on because the WHO relies on their funds. As the old adage goes, he who pays the piper, calls the tune.

The global public health response to COVID-19, led by the WHO, revealed the agenda of these global elites to create a world in which the public accepts official information as true without question, obeys leaders who impose top-down controls, and requires public obedience to government actors who are enriching themselves and mega-corporations at the expense of our sovereignty and freedom.

The WHO insists the world needs the Pandemic treaty and IHR amendments to prevent and lessen future pandemics or biological warfare events… so we will not suffer again as we did with the COVID pandemic. The very same people responsible for the failed pandemic response are now giving themselves more power to dictate, declare, and control not only any future pandemics but any “public health emergencies”.

These documents, which are still undergoing revisions even as nations are supposed to vote on their adoption in late May 2024, will fundamentally change the relationship between the WHO, its Member countries and naturally We the People.

The proposed IHR amendments remove human rights protections that are currently guaranteed in the existing regulations. One amendment proposes to do away with the phrase, “With full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons,” and replace it with “the principles of equity [and] inclusivity.”

In addition, the new draft expands the definitions of pandemics and health emergencies to include ‘potential’ for harm rather than actual harm. Despite the protestations from the WHO that they do not want to tell countries what to do, the draft removes the current language that says the recommendations are ‘non-binding.’ There will be no freedom to disagree with WHO’s recommendations and the WHO and Member States must counter mis- and disinformation.

The Director-General (DG) of the WHO, currently Tedros Ghebreyesus who is puppet of the CCP, will have the ability to independently declare emergencies, dictate restrictions and other measures at any time for any potential risk. This power will not be limited to viruses but to anything that impacts “global health” including climate, gun violence, food production . . . the list could be endless.

The WHO DG will have the ability to implement binding recommendations that affect individuals such as border closures, tracking and tracing, travel restrictions, quarantines, medical examinations, and potential vaccine requirements. Currently, countries can assess public health events and decide what measures and policies to take. Under these new proposals, the WHO can declare an emergency, including for mere potential threats to “public health”, without individual country’s consent, and dictate public health measures to be followed. It’s bad enough when our elected officials impose these things, but it’s a threat to sovereignty when they come from unelected international bureaucrats.

The Pandemic Treaty, which they call an “Agreement” to avoid the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of Senate ratification, is scheduled to be accepted at the same time, even though the final version of the document has not yet been released. It deals with the governance of global public health, including increased funding, the control of supply chains, and the sharing of all viruses/bacteria that have “pandemic potential.” It will set up a ‘Governing Body,’ to oversee the whole process and expand the WHO’s scope by emphasizing a ‘One Health’ agenda that covers anything that could potentially cross borders and impact human, animal, or plant life.

What can be done to stop the WHO?

Congress should defund the WHO and reject the amendments to the International Health Regulations and the Pandemic Treaty. The House of Representatives took the first step by defunding the WHO in the 2024 State/Foreign Operations spending bill but sadly, this language was stripped out in negotiations with the Senate. Congress should make it a priority to defund the WHO in the next round of spending bills.

Several bills have been introduced to combat the WHO. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has a bill, H.R. 79, to remove the U.S. from the WHO and prevent any funds from going to the organization. The Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle “DEFUND” Act, introduced in both the Senate (S. 3428) and House (H.R. 6645) by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Chip Roy (R-TX), and Mike Rogers (R-AL), will protect national sovereignty by withdrawing the United States from the U.N. and the WHO, prevent all voluntary contributions to these organizations, remove the United States from all U.N. conventions or agreements, and require ratification by the U.S. Senate as a condition of rejoining any U.N.-affiliated entity.

At a minimum, the Senate must insist that any final amendments or agreements presented by the WHO that bind our nation are considered as a treaty and subject to ratification by the Senate. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) offered an amendment last year that would have required the Senate to ratify the Pandemic Treaty, but it was defeated when not a single Democrat voted for it.

COVID-19 stands out from previous pandemics because the WHO acted in ways that were contrary to existing WHO guidelines. Despite the historical rarity of pandemics, the WHO and their partners are pushing forward changes that will ensure they repeat the mistakes of the past while cementing power in the hands of not just the WHO, but the dangerous public-private, non-governmental organizations such as the Gates Foundation, the WEF and other powerful forces beyond the accountability of voters.

How can we take seriously claims by the same officials who mishandled COVID that they want to spare us from another medical and economic disaster by employing the same strategies they applied to COVID?

No governments or their health officials have ever admitted their deadly errors with the last pandemic so we should never let them manage anything for us again. Do not allow the United States to join a Pandemic Treaty and the new amendments to the International Health Regulations that will bind us to obey the WHO’s dictates forever.