New WHO pandemic treaty is targeted by Slovak disinformation actors

Foremost among them is Prime Minister Robert Fico, who calls it a 'fabrication by pharma companies'.

The World Health Organisation is preparing a new treaty that should help in the event of another pandemic similar to Covid-19. The organisation faced criticism after 2020 for being slow to respond to the development of the disease, and in proposing public health measures.

The treaty should be approved next May.

However in Slovakia, the treaty has already become a hot topic among promoters of disinformation who claim, variously, that it will endanger Slovakia's sovereignty or that it will allow Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates to take over the world, the Denník N daily reports.

Moreover, governing coalition MPs are starting to echo the alternative media, assuring voters that they will not support any such WHO treaty.

On social media, Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba (Slovak National Party nominee) said that "the government will not agree to any WHO treaty that would transfer national sovereignty when it comes to dealing with any pandemic to a transnational body, as is stated in the working documents [for the treaty], according to which the WHO is supposed to have the right to deny the sovereignty of states and human rights".

In a video, Erik Kaliňák, senior adviser to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer), talked about the move as "another effort by globalists to weaken the power of nation-states".

According to health analyst Martin Smatana, a lack of authority and the absence of clear rules and guidelines meant that thousands of people died needlessly of Covid-19. Members of the WHO are therefore developing an updated version of the guidelines.

The most contentious part is related to the shortening of deadlines by which member states should inform the WHO about their reservations concerning, or their rejection of, updates to the guidelines. Smatana says that the deadlines were shortened so that the WHO could react by targeting anti-pandemic measures more quickly. In no way do the shortened deadlines change the powers of the WHO.

Prime Minister Fico now says that his government will not strengthen the competencies of the WHO in any way, calling the move "nonsense that must have been created by insatiable pharmaceutical companies".

Slovakia is not the only country having to deal with disinformation in regards to the treaty: similarly wild claims have been heard in France and Estonia.