The Diplomat
Club de Madrid President, former Slovenian President Danilo Türk, has signed an open letter to heads of state and government urging them to establish a global health treaty to prevent future pandemics.
The letter, drafted by two renowned experts and endorsed by Danilo Türk and Dame Barbara Stocking – chair of the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention– calls for the establishment of a new treaty for the prevention of future pandemics based on international collaboration and improved global health action under the leadership of WHO.
The Club de Madrid is a non-partisan, international organization of more than 100 democratically elected former presidents and prime ministers (including former Spanish Prime Ministers Felipe González, José María Aznar, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy), while the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention, created in April 2021, works with leaders from around the world to close gaps in the global architecture and regulatory frameworks for public health. Its membership includes Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica and vice president of the Club de Madrid.
“As the world remains immersed in COVID-19, it is time for heads of state and government to seize this historic opportunity and develop a legally binding treaty that drives transparency, governance and accountability with the goal that outbreaks are identified quickly and we can respond more effectively,” said Danilo Türk.
“After the devastation of COVID-19, the world is in an even worse position to detect and respond to the next Disease X, which is now, if anything, more possible because of the climate crisis,” said Barbara Stocking. “There can be no more excuses. If leaders themselves do not commit to a legally binding agreement, the next pandemic and its repercussions will be their own fault,” she warned.
