WHO, what and why? Trans-national government, legitimacy and the World Health Organisation

July 26, 2012

Free Market Foundation

Trans-national institutions are increasingly exercising their legislative powers, in order to by-pass the constraints to which national legislatures are subject.

The situation is made more acute by the habit of conferring leadership of these institutions on ex-politicians, rather than experienced civil servants.

The WHO, after years of blatant corruption and abuse, has been put in the hands of such a politician Mrs Gro Harlem Brundtland, ex-Prime Minister of Norway.

The dangers are illustrated by the WHOs Tobacco Free Initiative, and its current attempt, eagerly pursued by Mrs Brundtland, to secure a draconian Convention against the Tobacco industry.

The grounds given for this are largely spurious, and in any case refer to matters which are outside the remit of the WHO.

The effect of the proposals will be to confer massive legislative and policing powers on unaccountable bureaucrats, and also to drive the trade in tobacco underground.

Hence the proposed convention will do nothing to curtail the consumption of tobacco, and everything to escalate the criminal activities of smugglers and rogue producers.

The time has come for the WHO to concentrate on its real mission, which is the prevention and cure of communicable diseases such as malaria and TB. Only this will answer the legitimate complaints of those who have seen the Organisation squander millions of money on projects of little or no relevance to the Third-World countries that stand in need of international medical assistance.