Merkel, Macron, Johnson and Sánchez among 24 heads of government calling for international anti-pandemic treaty

BarcelonaIn an article published simultaneously by newspapers around the world, 24 heads of government - including Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, French Prime Minister Emanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel - call for a global anti-pandemic treaty. The leaders insist that covid-19 is the biggest challenge since the Second World War and recall that the question is not "whether there will be another health crisis, but when". They call for "building a stronger international health architecture that protects future generations".

In the article, published in Spain by El País and The Telegraph in the UK, the leaders argue that a treaty is needed to build a more solid international cooperation and echo the mantra of the director general of the World Health Organization, who is also one of the signatories: "No one will be safe until everyone is safe." They recall that after the Second World War a multilateral system was built: "The goals were clear: to bring countries together, to dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together, in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation: peace, prosperity, health and security".

The leaders say that, in the spirit of 1945, countries "need to be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and respond effectively to pandemics in a highly coordinated manner. A new treaty would help establish better warning systems for new outbreaks, they say, while improving data sharing and the distribution of vaccines and personal protective equipment. And they point out that "there will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies". "No single government or multilateral agency can deal with this threat alone," they add. They also read the pandemic as an opportunity: "Now that covid-19 has exploited our weaknesses and divisions, we must come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation beyond this crisis."

The joint article comes on the heels of the UK-EU disagreement over vaccines. The leaders say they are "committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tests to address this and future pandemics" and refer to immunisation as "a global public good." This contrasts with their policy of blocking international efforts to temporarily suspend patents for the duration of the pandemic or the hoarding of available doses.

The article also recognises the "one health" principle, which emphasises the dependence of the health of people, animals and the planet, and notes that an anti-pandemic treaty would serve to establish rules for "accountability, shared responsibility, transparency and control within an international system"

Signatories also include leaders from Fiji, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Kenya, Greece, South Korea, Chile, Costa Rica, Albania, South Africa, the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Senegal, Norway, Serbia, Indonesia and Ukraine.