Dr. Pedro Villarreal: International Pandemic Lawmaking - The Shape of Things to Come

In this presentation Dr. Pedro Villarreal, Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, discusses the outcome of the recent World Health Assembly special session, which took place from 29 November until 1 December 2021. A decision entitled “The World Together” was adopted by consensus, setting up an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) and opening a three-pronged process: 1) to propose amendments to the International Health Regulations of 2005; 2) to negotiate a new international convention, agreement or other legal instrument in the field of pandemic preparedness and response; and, 3) resorting to a legally non-binding instrument (“soft law”) as a failsafe mechanism. This presentation provides an overview of different procedural intricacies involved in each of these options.