Ian Johnstone: COVID-19, International Law, and the Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction

Policy and discussion around the COVID-19 pandemic has centered on managing the current outbreak, developing a vaccine as quickly as possible and ensuring that it is distributed equitably.  While these are the right priorities, one should not lose sight of the bigger picture –how to prevent and respond to future pandemics.  The surest way to do that is by building resilient and equitable health systems around the world. 

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that the prevention, detection and control of infectious disease outbreaks cannot be separated from broader global health policy.[1] In this short essay I explore this proposition through the lens of international law. I argue that the International Health Regulations reinforce the human right to health and, taken together, underpin Sustainable Development Goal 3, which seeks healthy lives for all. This legal framing can help to mobilize the political will not only to fight future pandemics but also to fulfill the promise of equitable access to quality healthcare in every society.

Read the rest of the piece at the symposium page for the Global Governance in the Age of COVID research project at the Center for International and Area Studies, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University.