Nearly 400,000 Sign African Catholic Activists’ Petition Urging Vote against WHO’s Draft Pandemic Agreement

“Particularly troubling is the treaty's language around managing ‘infodemics,’ potentially justifying censorship of legitimate debate, scientific dissent, and open public discourse,” the Catholic activists note, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, which they say “has shown us clearly the risks of information suppression.”

They caution that “further empowering the WHO to control speech risks damaging trust, transparency, and democratic accountability.”

“This finalized treaty grants extensive powers to an unelected global authority, posing a serious threat to our country's national sovereignty and our citizens' fundamental rights,” the CitizenGo Africa petition reads in part.

It continues to warn that the pandemic treaty allows the “WHO to declare global emergencies and compel nations to follow centralized directives,” a provision the Catholic activists warn is going to curtail the ability of countries to respond independently to future crises.

“Lockdowns, mandates, surveillance, and standardized emergency responses” should be a preserve of “elected officials, not distant bureaucrats,” they emphasize, expressing concern that the sovereignty clause in Article 24.2 of the pandemic treaty provides “superficial assurance.”

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“This clause does not protect sovereignty—it undermines it,” CitizenGo Africa members lament in their petition, adding that “the accompanying annexes and fine print still ensure WHO directives could override national laws and decisions.”

They acknowledge that previous efforts against the pandemic treaty led to its postponement twice, forced the amendment of its most dangerous provisions, and pressured the U.S. and Argentina to withdraw from the agreement.

“You have already proven their plan isn’t unstoppable. They know we are watching. That is why they have hidden the exact vote date, buried the final text in legal jargon, and rushed everything to avoid public outrage,” the Catholic activists observe.

In the petition seeking to compel health officials participating in 78th World Health Assembly to reject the pandemic treaty, CitizenGo Africa members say that “if we stand together and flood Health Ministers with the voices of citizens across the country, we CAN turn this around. We've done it before—we can do it again.”

Meanwhile, speaking to ACI Africa on the sidelines of the May 12-17 Second Pan-Africa Conference of Family Values (PCFV)in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, the Campaigns Director at CitizenGO confirmed that representatives from their organization would be delivering the petition signatures at the Geneva assembly in person.

“Our campaigners will be there to deliver signatures. We are almost having around 400,000 signatures right now. We will deliver them there because we do not want this treaty to be adopted,” Ann Kioko said.

Ms. Kioko accused the WHO of misplaced priorities, saying, “They are supposed to be looking for health solutions across the globe, but what are they doing? Pushing for silencing of conscience and freedom of speech.”

She added that a recent partnership between global health organization and “the Center for Reproductive Health and Rights, a very well-funded pro-abortion organization, exposes what they (WHO) are after, because their agenda is not to protect health, but to push for contraceptives, to push for abortions and harmful vaccines.”

“Actually, if countries can withdraw from WHO, like the United States is about to do, it would be good,” the Kenyan-born CitizenGo Campaigns Director told ACI Africa on May 14.

Nicholas Waigwa is a Kenyan multimedia journalist and broadcast technician with a professional background in creating engaging news stories and broadcasting content across multiple media platforms. He is passionate about the media apostolate and Catholic Church communication.