The WHO's Governance of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern: Implications for Travellers from a Human Rights Perspective

Through increasing international travel, any highly contagious pathogen could precipitate a global public health emergency, affecting the fate of millions of people, the security of states while causing severe economic repercussion. The sudden outbreak of SARS exemplified this threat in 2003. Therefore, the role of travellers is decisive upon the success of global disease containment strategies.

Internationally, the World Health Organization (WHO) is entrusted with the global mandate on health governance and thus adopted a revised version of the "International Health Regulations" (IHR) in 2005, which entered into force June 2007. This legally binding document is ground-breaking because it is applicable to all "Public Health Emergencies of International Concern" and is founded upon the premise of human rights, in particular emphasizing the rights of travellers.

The main findings will try to balance a high level of global health security and the concerns of travellers, as required according to the IHR and universal human rights law, through benchmarking the human right to health.

Research at Georgetown University Law Center (The Center for Law and the Public's Health)