The World Assembly,
Noting the purpose of GAR #546 to lift restrictions upon minority groups from donating blood, while increasing the efficiency of blood donation to improve medical treatment,
However, displeased by these flaws in the resolution's execution:
- The target's failure to effectively prevent discrimination in blood donation, as while it requires that members of minorities be allowed to donate, it still allows the immediate discarding of a minority donor's blood due to the donor belonging to said minority group.
- Section 4 declaring categorically that "it shall be considered a criminal offense to knowingly attempt to donate unsafe blood" includes donation for research, where it is irrelevant whether the blood is safe for transfusions or not. This pointlessly hinders research regarding blood-borne illnesses by making it difficult to obtain blood carrying those illnesses.
- Section 5, which states, “existing scientific committees created by this body shall be utilized to share information related to blood-borne illnesses and blood donation across member states, as to mitigate any risk of contaminated blood”, does not include any restrictions or prevention of the sharing of private information of individuals that may possess a blood borne illness, thus infringing on the right of any person to not have their private information disclosed.
- The target is largely superfluous under existing laws and does not require replacement. GAR #546 states nearly identical principles to GAR #457, which already addresses discrimination based on sexuality, implicitly including blood donation. Likewise, GAR #217 already declares that “prospective donors of biomedical tissues shall not be discriminated against without a valid medical rationale”.
Asserting that this repeal will relieve unnecessary burdens upon member states, noting that similar resolutions can function without needing to be duplicated – often ineffectively – by the target,
Hereby repeals GAR #546, Blood Donation Safety and Equality Act”.
