[Ip-health] Access to medicines threatened in Thailand. EFTA states should respect the right to health

[Julien Reinhard]

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Press Release, 20 June, 2005

Access to medicines threatened in Thailand. EFTA states should respect
the right to health.

17 NGOs from Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein submitted today a
request to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health*. They urge
him to warn the four member states of the European Free Trade
Association (EFTA: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) not
to restrict access to affordable generic medicines in Thailand.

Negotiations for an EFTA-Thailand free trade agreement will begin in
mid-September. There is a risk that EFTA member states seek to include
in that agreement intellectual property rules that undermine access to
affordable generic medicines in Thailand. Such provisions that are going
further than what is required under the WTO TRIPS agreement have been
already included in previous free trade agreements from EFTA with third
countries (e.g. FTAs with Chile in 2003, Lebanon in 2004 and Tunisia in
2004). Access to generic medicines, especially generic version of
patented medicines, is essential in Thailand, in particular since the
country is facing a serious HIV / AIDS epidemics. Today there are around
700'000 people living with HIV in the country. The HIV prevalence rate
among the adult population is above 1%. According to WHO estimations
50'000 persons are receiving antiretroviral treatment while 114'000
people need it.

In their letter of 20th June 2005 to the UN Special Rapporteur on the
right to health, Mr. Paul Hunt, the NGOs urge him to send an urgent
appeal to ensure that EFTA member states take into account their human
rights obligations in the forthcoming negotiations. They should not
impose through the free trade agreement stricter intellectual property
rules as these would undermine Thailand's ability to provide affordable
generic medicines for its population. This would undermine the right to
health of the Thai population and would be contrary to the human rights
obligations of EFTA member states. Also, the NGOs urged the special
rapporteur to remind EFTA member states of their human rights obligation
to ensure greater transparency and consultation with public interest
civil society throughout all negotiations of free trade agreements which
have an impact on human rights. At present the content of trade
negotiations is known to the public only after the conclusion of the
agreements.

Last Wednesday 15th June, a coalition of Thai NGOs made a similar
request to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health to send an
urgent appeal to the Thai government. They expressed their concerns
about the human rights impacts - especially in relation to access to
affordable medicines - of the trade agreements being negotiated by
Thailand with several countries, including EFTA states.

For more information, please contact :
Julien Reinhard, D=E9claration de Berne / Berne Declaration (Switzerland),
+41 21 620 03 06


* The letter is available on http://www.evb.ch/index.cfm?page_id=3D3647
The following organizations are endorsing the letter:
Switzerland: Berne Declaration, Aids & Kind, Antenne Sida du Valais
romand, Bethlehem Mission Immensee, F=E9d=E9ration Suisse des Personnes
Vivant Avec (FSPVA), Groupe sida Gen=E8ve, M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8re (MSF=
) -
Suisse, Medicus Mundi Schweiz, SID'Action, SolidarMed, TearFund, terre
des hommes schweiz, World Vision Schweiz
Liechtenstein: Liechtensteinische Gesellschaft f=FCr Umweltschutz LGU,
Aktion: Wir teilen. Das alternative Fastenopfer, Verein Welt und Heimat
Norway: Leger Uten Grenser / M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res (MSF) - Norway

For more details on TRIPS-plus provisons in EFTA free trade agreements
see the report on medicines http://www.evb.ch/cm_data/Deprive_Doha.pdf .


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