There was a time when Brazil was considered to have had some of the finest diplomats serving their country and the UN as representatives of the world organization, around the world. Their mission was to mediate in real crises and armed conflicts.
Certainly – it was not to serve any one group of countries’ political or ideological interest, and certainly, not to stray from UN’s original mission into some “pandemic/infodemic” weeds.
But those times are gone, and now, we have this: Tovar da Silva Nunes (that’s Brazil’s representative to the UN and a member of the group negotiating the WHO pandemic treaty), effectively advocating for worldwide authoritarianism. On healthcare issues, at least.
Nunes has the distinction of being cited in reports as calling for (what is considered) dissemination of false health information and medical interventions being treated as “a possible criminal offense.”
Not the bravest of the bunch, our “brave new world warriors” – so note the “possible” qualifier. Still, Nunes is putting this outrageous notion out there for the world to consider, and/or get used to.
This disastrous showing for the country’s diplomacy emerged from the UN General Assembly sessions, specifically, the meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, held last week in New York City.
The meeting was called in order to “finalize” the Pandemic Accord or Treaty, that will be globally enforceable.
Or so its enforcers hope.
Those behind the proposal have no problem conflating the issues of an actual pandemic (say, a deadly one like smallpox or the plague) with what’s been made up as both a term and a notion during the Covid scare, namely – “infodemic(s).”
And the latter is not a sidenote to the overall supposed effort to better handle “the next epidemic” – no, it is clearly indicated from multiple sources that it should take a prominent spot.
Members of UN World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) themselves are pushing for “infodemic management” to become a part of the Pandemic Accord’s “substantive articles.”
As the Covid years have demonstrated, though – it’s all too easy to censor valid opinions of scientists, doctors, journalists – simply for not conforming to the accepted narrative (sometimes, of the week).
Hence the trepidation by free speech advocates regarding the latest developments. But Ambassador Nunes doesn’t appear to be one of them.
“Disseminating false information regarding health matters and medical interventions constitutes both a possible criminal offense and a violation of the fundamental human right to the highest achievable standards of health. The spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic tragically resulted in the loss of millions of lives,” Nunes claims.
