One planet, one health: advocating for a convention on pandemics

In December 2021, an intergovernmental negotiating group was set up within the World Health Organization to draft and negotiate a convention or other international instrument on pandemics. In view of this process, the International Center for Comparative Environmental Law (CIDCE), an international NGO on special consultative status with the United Nations, developed a draft convention on pandemics, in partnership with the Normandy Chair for Peace and the Global Pandemic Network. Being a global threat, a pandemic calls for global solidarity and a global solution, through a global convention.

Anchored in the multisectoral “One Health” approach, the CIDCE-proposed convention is underpinned by the human right to a healthy life in harmony with nature, for the benefit of present and future generations. It broadly addresses multiple aspects of pandemic preparedness and response, including early detection and warning systems, scientific and technical cooperation, inter-agency coordination, universal access to vaccines and medicines, transfer of technologies, sustainable funding, etc. The draft convention drawn up by CIDCE is primarily aimed to serve as a source of reference and inspiration for State and non-State actors engaged in the negotiation of the future international instrument. This book provides easy access to the draft convention, together with the rationale behind it, in French, English and Spanish, in order to facilitate and speed up the diplomatic process leading to the conclusion, hopefully promptly, of a global convention on pandemics.

International Pandemic Convention

A draft international convention on pandemics was drawn up at the end of 2021 at the initiative of the International Center for Comparative Environmental Law (CIDCE) by an international group of experts in health law, human rights and legal of the environment with the support of the Normandy Chair for Peace.