On 14 June 2007 the International Herald Tribune published the article “WHO says will not ignore Taiwan in new protocol to deal with global crises”.

[Read the Article]

The article reports that despite Taiwan’s failure to secure membership in the World Health Organisation (WHO), it will not be excluded from new and stronger regulations designed to facilitate greater international disease control. UNPO has responded with a letter to the Editor of the International Herald Tribune, underlining that the only means of effectively strengthening international disease control is for the WHO to engage directly with those in a position to facilitate Taiwan’s compliance with new regulations – their democratically elected government.

To the Editor of the International Herald Tribune

With reference to the article “WHO says will not ignore Taiwan in new protocol to deal with global crises” (14 June 2007). Recent revisions to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) reflect a welcome awareness of the ways in which the communication of disease is changing, requiring regulations with greater scope and provisions for greater international cooperation.

Efforts to include Taiwan, a sovereign state which annually administers the heath of 23 million people, 400,000 foreign citizens, 80,000 vessels and 200,000 international flights, as well as over 1 million migratory birds, are clearly essential to the success of such a programme.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) however has neither the authority nor practical capacity to represent Taiwan at international bodies such as the WHO, and so has no opportunity to implement the IHR with respect to Taiwan. It is the democratically elected Taiwanese Government that must, and has, amended its own laws to make them IHR compatible.

In so far as Taiwan continues to be denied WHO membership however, direct communication and cooperation between Taiwanese and WHO officials will remain hampered. The regrettable weakness this inevitably introduces to efforts to strengthen international disease control surely runs counter to the very purpose of reforming the IHR.
 

Marino Busdachin
General Secretary
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization