Justified Border Closures do not violate the International Health Regulations 2005 – EJIL: Talk!
▻https://www.ejiltalk.org/justified-border-closures-do-not-violate-the-international-health-regulati
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Rapidly developing pandemics require governments to use their best endeavours to protect their populations. International law permits them to do this provided they observe certain conditions, but limits on the reach of the World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) have previously been insufficiently appreciated. In mid-February 2020 The Lancet published a piece by 16 health professionals taking the view that countries were breaching the IHR in closing their borders to travellers from locations including China, the source country of COVID-19, contrary to WHO advice. A similar view was published in Science in March. That conclusion cannot be correct. Article 43 of the IHR clearly leaves room for action going beyond that recommended by the WHO, consistent with respect for States’ sovereign rights (IHR Art 3.4), in appropriate circumstances.
