La tutela del diritto alla salute e il rapporto tra ONU e OMS. Riflessioni a margine della pandemia da COVID-19

This paper aims at exploring how and to what extent the International Organizations are able to deal with the international spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, the WHO’s normative background, concerning the socalled International Health Regulations (2005) and the powers of the Director General, will be assessed. Secondly, an analysis relating to the initial measures taken by the WHO in order to manage the uncontrolled spread of the virus will be proposed. It will be argued and stressed that the States did not comply with these measures, insofar as they perceived them as ineffective to slowing the worldwide contagion down. Ultimately, the paper will focus upon the United Nations Security Council’s missed opportunity to uphold, from the very beginning, the WHO in its efforts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, underlining the differences between the Ebola crisis in 2014 and the current pandemic.