The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in the global legal framework for pandemics. In response, in 2021, WHO member states launched negotiations to develop a new pandemic agreement aimed at addressing the gaps revealed by the pandemic. After three years of negotiations, on 20 May 2025, the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution by way of a resolution. This is only the second time since the WHO’s founding in 1948 that the World Health Assembly has adopted an international agreement—the first being the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It marks a significant institutional and legal milestone, reflecting a major shift in approach by placing equity and solidarity at the forefront of pandemic prevention and response. Still, the agreement’s true impact will depend on a range of short- and long-term factors, which we explore in the following post.
Global Governance
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No Longer Hard Law’s ‘Poor Relative’: The Growing Respect for Soft, Non-Binding Legal Instruments in the International Order
In the rich scholarship on and practice of hard and soft laws in the international order, hard law (specifically legally-binding treaties) is often perceived more favourably than soft, non-binding legal instruments, given the former’s precise wording and enforceable obligations compared with the latter’s aspirational remit and assumed transitional status towards hard law. Preference for hard law persists despite…
The WHO Pandemic Agreement: Equity for Developing States or Business as Usual?
At 3am on Wednesday 16th April 2025, after three years of intense negotiations, WHO member states (minus the United States) preliminarily consented to a final text of the so-called Pandemic Agreement. The text will now be considered for final adoption at the upcoming World Health Assembly meeting in May 2025, where – barring any major upsets –…
Keeping the Flame Alive? IOC Elections and their Impact on Global Governance
The Olympic Movement has recently experienced its own Habemus papam moment. After a 12-year mandate, Thomas Bach announced his intention to step down from his position as President of the International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) this year. Much has been made of the secrecy and lobbying that accompanies the election and creates resemblances with the papal conclave. Coupled…
The Heidelberg Declaration on Transforming Global Meat Governance
Meat is at the center of interrelated environmental and public health crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, pandemics, food insecurity, unhealthy and unsustainable diets, and institutionalized animal suffering. While eating or not eating meat has traditionally been seen as a private choice, it is increasingly becoming a public and political issue, as the social, ecological, and ethical costs…
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