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  • From: Primah Kwagala <kwagalap AT gmail.com>
  • To: ip-mentorship-cehurd-group AT googlegroups.com
  • Cc: "ucaem AT googlegroups.com" <ucaem AT googlegroups.com>, ugandas-access-to-education-materials-strategy-group AT googlegroups.com, 2013-cehurd-fellows-of-iphrts AT googlegroups.com, akiba-grantees-uganda AT googlegroups.com, petitionnumber16 <petitionnumber16 AT googlegroups.com>, "ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.org>, 2nd-school-eashripatm-2011 AT googlegroups.com, cc-uganda AT googlegroups.com
  • Subject: [ccAfrica] TRIPS Council chair charged of 'unjust treatment'
  • Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 12:06:48 +0300

See http://myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action="news_details&news_id=55018

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, May 21: The least developed countries (LDCs) have charged the developed nations and incumbent chair of the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council of “unjust and unethical treatment”.

The charge was leveled at a time when informal negotiations are going on between the LDCs and the developed countries on extension period of TRIPS waiver to LDCs, which is expiring at the end of June.

The LDC Group´s request of unconditional extension of the transition period until they graduate from the LDC status has obtained extensive support from the developing world, according to global civil society networks, LDC Watch and the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS).

“But these supporters have not been invited to participate in the ongoing consultations,” says a statement issued by the LDC Watch and the OWINFS. “Instead, the consultations have been limited to the LDC Group and developed countries like the US, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, in particular, including the Council Chair.

“Alfredo Suescum, who is the current chair of the Council on TRIPS of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is, therefore, depriving LDCs of their allies, while attempting to overwhelm the negotiating capacity of the poorest members of the WTO by placing them in an unfair position where they have to face the united might of the developed countries.”

The bone of contention in the current negotiations, according to civil society networks, is the impractical short extension period of five to 7.5 years and the unjustifiable no-roll-back clause that would force LDCs to maintain current level of intellectual property protections.

Legally, TRIPS Agreement mandates all WTO members to approve LDC Group´s request, once it is submitted--which was done in November 2012 by Haiti as the then chair. Like all WTO agreements, the TRIPS Agreement is built on a foundation of “special and differential treatment” for developing countries and, especially, for LDCs, in recognition of their inherent vulnerability and impediments.

“Clearly the ongoing consultations have been designed so that the outcome will fail the LDCs,” says the statement.

The 49 UN-defined LDCs spanning across Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, are categorized on the basis of low income, weak human assets and economically vulnerability. Nepal is the current chair of the LDC Group in the WTO.

 
Published on 2013-05-21 23:11:30


--
Primah kwagala
Centre for Health Human Rights and Development *(CEHURD)
kwagalap AT gmail.com
0774207358
"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for "
Kofi Annan





  • [ccAfrica] TRIPS Council chair charged of 'unjust treatment', Primah Kwagala, 05/22/2013

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