Pasaulio sveikatos organizacijos teisės aktų poveikis visuomenės sveikatos valdymui nacionalinėje teisėje

Abstract

The role of the World Health Organization in the management of the global COVID-19 pandemic and its relevant impact on the national-level legislative decisions made by states fuel discussions about the scope of the powers of this organization. This article deals with the influence of the World Health Organization on its member states in the management of public health. The WHO’s impact is assessed and conclusions are drawn, taking into consideration: the circumstances of development of the WHO, the functions set out in its Constitution in order to achieve the best health of all peoples, and the levels of imperativeness of the legal acts issued by the WHO and their application in the national law of Lithuania during the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research reveals that although the activities undertaken and the legal instruments enacted by the World Health Organization in the area of public health do not have a binding legal force in many cases, they have legal significance because they clarify the content of binding legal instruments and serve as guidelines for states for the further legal development of health systems at the national level. Such a mode of operation of this organization opens up an opportunity to make use of the advantages of soft law, compared to inflexible hard law, and to retain the neutrality of medicine and health sciences in terms of political interests.