The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?

Document Type : Perspective

Authors

1 World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark

2 Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract

Public health instruments have been under constant development and renewal for decades. International legal instruments, with their binding character and strength, have a special place in this development. The start of the 21st century saw, in particular, the birth of the first World Health Organization (WHO)-era health treaties – the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and its first Protocol. The authors analyze the potential impact of these instruments on global health governance and public health, beyond the traditional view of their impact on tobacco control. Overall, the very fact that globally binding treaties in modern-era health were feasible has accelerated the debate and expectations for an expanded role of international legal regimes in public health. The impact of treaties has also been notable in global health architecture as the novel instruments required novel institutions to govern their implementation. The legal power of the WHO FCTC has enabled rapid adoption of further instruments to promote its implementation, thus, enhancing the international instrumentarium for health, and it has also prompted stronger role for national legislation on health. Notably, the Convention has elevated several traditionally challenging public health features to the level of international legal obligations. It has also revealed how the legal power of the international health instrument can be utilized in safeguarding the interests of health in the face of competing agendas and legal disputes at both the domestic and international levels. Lastly, the legal power of health instruments is associated with their potential impact not only on health but also beyond; the recently adopted Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products may best exemplify this matter. The first treaty experiences of the 21st century may provide important lessons for the role of legal instruments in addressing the unfolding challenges in global health.

Highlights

Commentaries Published on this Paper

  • Innovative Use of the Law to Address Complex Global Health Problems; Comment on “The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?”

          Abstract | PDF

  • WHO FCTC as a Pioneering and Learning Instrument; Comment on “The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?”

          Abstract | PDF

  • The WHO Tobacco Convention: A New Dawn in the Implementation of International Health Instrument?; Comment on “The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?”

          Abstract | PDF

  • Adopting New International Health Instruments – What Can We Learn From the FCTC?; Comment on “The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?”

          Abstract | PDF

  • Reaching Outside the Comfort Zone: Realising the FCTC’s Potential for Public Health Governance and Regulation in the European Union; Comment on “The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments – What It Brings to Global Health Governance?”

          Abstract | PDF

  • Human Rights Treaties Are an Important Part of the “International Health Instrumentariam”; Comment on “The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?”

          Abstract | PDF

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Geneva: World Health Organization; 2003. WHO website. http://www.who.int/fctc/text_download/en/. Accessed July 6, 2016.
  2. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2013. WHO website. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/80873/1/9789241505246_eng.pdf?ua=1. Accessed July 6, 2016.
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History

  • Receive Date: 07 July 2016
  • Revise Date: 29 August 2016
  • Accept Date: 29 August 2016
  • First Publish Date: 01 December 2016

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