(Neo)Colonial Legacies, Health Equity & Global Disease Governance: A Critical Socio-Legal Analysis

新冠肺炎疫情暴露了全球卫生法在有效应对传染病危机方面的局限性。例如，尽管存在一项条约，允许免除专利以促进全球公平获得疫苗，但全球南方基本上仍然没有接种疫苗，而许多全球北方国家已经储存了疫苗，并宣布结束大流行。这对全球南方国家，特别是加勒比小岛屿发展中国家(SID)来说尤其令人担忧，因为它们在社会经济上易受传染病暴发的影响，再加上它们在气候变化影响下的环境脆弱性。此外，尽管认识到全球力量不对称，但目前修订和制定新的全球卫生法的努力主要是由来自全球北方的一小群专家领导的，以便为国际社会更好地预防大流行病。这些不平等的表现引发了关于全球卫生非殖民化的讨论，质疑殖民主义和帝国主义的长期遗产是否正在破坏全球卫生公平。这项研究聚焦于巴巴多斯和牙买加这两个一直在进行宪法改革的加勒比海小岛屿发展中国家，包括罢免英格兰国王作为国家元首，这项研究将采用关键的法律研究理论框架，调查(新殖民主义和帝国主义的政治和经济遗产)如何以及在多大程度上塑造全球传染病法律和政策，并确定全球南方人的抵抗模式。该项目将以经验主义为基础，采用社会-法律、定性的案例研究方法。这项首创的研究对全球卫生具有实际和智力意义。世界正处于一个关键时刻，正在修订和制定全球卫生法律，以便更好地预防大流行，这为探索全球南方国家如何参与国际立法进程及其对卫生公平的更广泛影响提供了一个独特但前所未有的机会。这种探索对于理解如何(重新)设计更有效的全球卫生法律以实现更好的治理至关重要。此外，该项目将推进关键的法律理论，重点关注法律在全球卫生治理中的中心地位，这是目前全球卫生研究中的一个空白。

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the limitations of global health law to effectively respond to infectious disease crises. Despite the existence of a treaty that allows for patents to be waived to promote global equitable access to vaccines, for instance, the Global South remains largely unvaccinated while many Global North countries have stockpiled vaccines and announced the end of the pandemic. This is particularly concerning for Global South countries, especially Caribbean small island developing states (SIDs) due to their socio-economic vulnerability to infectious disease outbreaks, which is compounded by their environmental vulnerability to the effects of climate change.Moreover, notwithstanding the recognition of global power asymmetries, current efforts to revise and create new global health laws for better pandemic preparedness for the international community are predominantly being led by a small group of experts from the Global North. These manifestations of inequity have ignited discourse around decolonising global health, questioning whether the abiding legacies of colonialism and imperialism are undermining global health equity.Focusing on Barbados and Jamaica, two Caribbean SIDs that have been making constitutional reforms, including removing the King of England as Head of State, this research will adopt a Critical Legal Studies theoretical framework to investigate how and to what extent (neo)colonialism and imperialism's political and economic legacies shape global infectious disease laws and policies and identify modes of resistance amongst Global South people. This project will be grounded in empiricism, adopting a socio-legal, qualitative case study methodological approach.This first-of-its-kind research has practical and intellectual significance for global health. The world is at a pivotal moment where global health laws are being amended and created for better pandemic preparedness, providing a unique yet unprecedented opportunity to explore how countries in the Global South are engaging international law-making processes and the broader implications for health equity. This exploration is critical to understanding how to (re)design more effective global health laws for better governance. Moreover, the project will advance critical legal theories, focusing on the centrality of law in global health governance, a current gap in global health research.