Global Pandemics and International Law: An Analysis in the Age of Covid-19

Acknowledgments Preface CHAPTER I The World Health Organization (WHO) and the global governance of diseases PART I The Birth of the WHO and the International Health Regulations 1. Introduction 2. The international health regime prior to the creation of the WHO 2.1. The phase of health unilateralism 2.2. The shift of the XX Century 3. The WHO's foundations 4. The WHO's structure and its Institutional Set Up 5. The legal powers of the WHO 6. The International Health Regulations 6.1. Negotiation process 6.2. The all risk approach 6.3. Main duties upon States 6.3.1. Information sharing 6.3.2. Capacity building obligations 7. Soft law instruments 8. Global strategies PART II The Right to Health and International Law 9. The right to health 10. Health and human rights 11. The international Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 12. Sectorial treaties and right to health 12.1. General human rights treaties (at universal or regional scope) 12.2. Regional level 12.3. Biolaw and right to health 13. International jurisprudence 14. Conclusions CHAPTER II IS THE WHO TRULY INDEPENDENT: SUCCESSES, FAILURES AND PERSPECTIVES OF REFORM 1. Short Overview of WHO's Achievements and Failures 2. The Epidemiological Transition Model 3. WHO declarations of PHEIC 4. Declarations of PHEIC: the WHO's practice 4.1. The pandemic of H1N1 influenza (2009-2010) 4.2. The resurgence of Wild Polio (2014-) 4.3. The case of MERS 4.4. The case of Ebola 2014-2016 4.5. The case of Zika 4.6. The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2019-2020) 4.7. The COVID-19 outbreak 4.8. The Monkeypox outbreak 5. The WHO's lack of enforcement powers 6. How to improve the global health architecture 6.1. The Call for a Reform 6.2. The New Pandemic Treaty 6.3. Advantages 6.4. Drawbacks and other options 7. Conclusions CHAPTER III THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE GLOBAL, AND DOMESTIC RESPONSES: WHAT WENT WRONG? 1.Introduction 2.The Levels of Responsibility for the spread of COVID-19 a) The WHO b) China c) The Member States 3. The 'Mission Creep' of the WHO 4. In search of the WHO's Responsibilities 4.1. Background 4.2. The meetings of the Emergency Committee of 22-23 January 2020 and the decision not to declare a PHEIC 4.3. What went wrong? a) The role of the Emergency Committee b) Design Flaw 5. The Declaration of PHEIC of 30 January 2020 and the measures recommended 6. The Declaration of the Pandemic of COVID-19 as a trigger for domestic pandemic plans 7. Concluding Remarks CHAPTER IV The Origins of COVID-19, Pandemic Risk, and the Limits of Environmental Law 1. Disease Spillover and environmental degradation 2. Zoonotic Diseases and the Limits of Environmental Law 3. The Gaps of Environmental Law 3.1.Wildlife Law 3.2. Forest Law 4. The Problem of Wet Markets and the Lack of a Global Ban 5. A Global Ban of Wet Markets and the One Health Approach 6. Conclusions CHAPTER V COVID-19 VACCINES, THE END OF THE PANDEMICS AND UNSETTLED ISSUES PART I THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, VACCINE NATIONALISM AND DISTRIBUTIVE DILEMMAS 1. Introduction 2. The distributive dilemma and vaccine nationalism 3. The necessity of a global roll out of COVID-19 vaccines 4. Overview of Patent Law 4.1. The TRIPS Agreement 4.2. Patent rights vs. public health 4.3. States obligations and global solidarity 5. COVID-19 vaccines and benefit sharing 5.1. Fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines 5.1.1. The Target of Global Health Coverage 5.1.2. COVID-19 Vaccines as a Common Public Good? 6. Specific Declarations on fair and equitable access 6.1. Global level 6.1.1. WHO 6.1.2. United Nations 7. The COVAX initiative 8.Some remarks on the lessons learned by vaccine nationalism PART II Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations and Human Rights in Europe: how to find a Delicate Balance? 9 .Vaccine Hesitancy 10. A brief history of vaccinations 11. The European model on vaccinations 12. COVID-19 and Mandatory Vaccinations 13. The European legal framework 13.1. The European Union 13.2. The Council of Europe 14. Vaccines and right to life 15. Vaccines and right to private life 16. Vaccines and freedom of thought, conscience and religion 17. Some thoughts on compulsory vaccinations 18. Concluding remarks CHAPTER VI Infectious diseases as a threat to peace and security and COVID-19: one step behind? PART I: Framing the issue: infectious diseases and security 1. Introduction 2. New threats to peace and security 3. Resolution 2177/2014 and the securitization of health 4. The conceptual foundation of Resolution 2177 PART II: The Security Council facing the COVID-19 Pandemic 5. The stalemate of the Security Council at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic 6. Resolution 2532 (2020) 7. The legal nature of Resolution 2532 (2020) 8. Similarities and differences between Resolutions 2177 (2014) and 2532 (2020) 9. Resolution 2565 (2021) 10. Concluding Remarks Conclusions