General Assembly Resolution #53 “Epidemic Response Act” (Category: International Security; Strength: Strong) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.
THE WORLD ASSEMBLY,
NOTING that
GA Resolution # 53 “Epidemic Response Act” (ERA) created the Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response Center (EPARC) within the World Health Authority; and while
APPLAUDING the intent of the ERA to institute a co-ordinated effort to combat epidemics and other public health crises;
CONCERNED that the text of the ERA as written appears to grant EPARC sweeping powers with respect to the borders and healthcare systems of member states, in some cases beyond those needful for the ERA’s goal of epidemic prevention, as discussed below; and in particular
FURTHER NOTING that EPARC cannot be truly recommending restrictions under Section 6 of the ERA if member nations are mandated to follow them, leading to appearance of the ERA being a self-contradictory piece of legislation;
ALARMED that Section 6 of the ERA fails to limit EPARC's powers to recommend and implement travel restrictions in member-nations to only apply during an epidemic or pandemic, an oversight which could result in unnecessary restrictions being put in place, causing undue harm to the targeted nation in an overzealous effort by EPARC to prevent spread of disease to an impractical degree;
BELIEVING that resolutions enacted since the passage of the ERA have provided for further epidemic control and guidance on quarantines, disease prevention, and border closures via more transparent mechanisms than those which the ERA provides; particularly
GA Resolution # 320, “Infectious Disease Control” and
GA Resolution # 389, “Rights of the Quarantined” which together provide a framework through which EPARC can continue to operate in a way similar to that found in Section 6 of the ERA even without the over-broad mandate the ERA provided it; therefore
BEING APPRECIATIVE of the ERA’s attempt to provide an overarching position on infectious disease control at a time when no such position existed; but observing that legislation passed since the ERA’s enactment has provided a more thorough framework for disease mitigation that avoids many of the pitfalls existing in the ERA as written;
THIS BODY does hereby repeal GA Resolution # 53, “Epidemic Response Act”.
