[Ip-health] Piece on student activism in the UK vis-a-vis Thailand

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://peopleandplanet.org/navid4179

Student campaigning has been instrumental in securing the explicit
support of the UK government for Thailand's move to protect public
health.



Earlier this year Thailand announced its plans to make urgently needed
HIV/AIDS drugs affordable. This move was met with attacks from
pharmaceutical companies and the US government.

Warning that this pressure might deter other countries from putting
public health before corporate profits, UK campaigners have been urging
the Government to voice its support for Thailand.

And these campaigning efforts have paid off! People & Planet has
received a letter from Gareth Thomas MP, Under-Secretary of State for
International Development, which explicitly states the UK=92s support for
Thailand=92s move.
Student campaigners make the difference


=93Coming back to the question about Thailand that you didn=92t answer=85=
=94

The audience at the Speaker event, mostly wearing red Stop AIDS
Campaign t-shirts.

Over a hundred student campaigners from People & Planet and the Student
Stop AIDS Societies came together at the Stop AIDS Day of Action.



Student campaigning has been key in shifting the Government=92s position.
In March the Stop AIDS Day of Action kick-started action on Thailand.
During that day student campaigners met Secretary of State for
International Development, Hilary Benn, to hand-in 10,000 action cards.

This event was the culmination of a year of relentless lobbying efforts
from student campaigners, who have been collecting action cards and
persuading MPs to sign EDMs, table parliamentary questions, and write
to Ministers in support of the campaign. DFID reported that as well as
the 10,000 action cards collected, over 400 MPs had written to the
government about the campaign.

At a question & answer session with Benn, students used the opportunity
to question him about Thailand. Hilary Benn assured campaigners that
the UK supported developing countries=92 right to protect public health,
and promised to raise the issue with the G8 Development Ministers.
However, he would not make a statement which explicitly supported
Thailand=92s move.
The importance of political support for Thailand

The support of the international community for Thailand=92s move is
essential for encouraging developing countries to use measures to lower
drug prices in order to provide essential medicines. Countries face
both substantial technical and political barriers that stop them from
using those measures.

Thailand=92s case has highlighted the enormous political pressure
countries face when making use of their right to protect public health:

     * Brand name drug companies responded to Thailand=92s move with
threats of legal action and the withdrawal of investment. Abbott
Laboratories went one step further by withdrawing life-saving medicines
from Thailand=92s market. Read about Abbott=92s behaviour, and the response
of campaigners


       Drug companies and their allies have launched misleading public
=91disinformation=92 campaigns. One group, USA For Innovation (=93a
non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of intellectual
property and continued innovation around the globe=94,) launched a
website called Thai Lies and took out advertisements in Thai newspapers
suggesting that Thai patients would now receive poor quality, unsafe
medicines. USA for Innovation=92s Director, Kenneth Adelman, also works
for the PR company =93Edelman=94, who list Abbott and a number of other
drugmakers among their largest clients.
     *

       Despite admitting that Thailand was entirely within its rights,
US government representatives suggested that Thailand=92s move was not
=93in the spirit of the TRIPS agreement=94. The US government has recently
elevated Thailand to its 2007 =93301 priority watch list=94 citing
Thailand=92s =93weakening respect for patents=94. This list identifies
countries that are judged as failing to offer =93adequate and effective
protection=94 for US intellectual property =91rights=92. Placing Thailand o=
n
this list allows the US to punish Thailand by withdrawing trading
privileges or imposing sanctions. The US has recently outlined actions
Thailand could take to escape the priority watch list, including an
extensive list of =91TRIPS-Plus=92 requirements - requirements which go far
beyond the requirements of TRIPS and which would severely restrict
Thailand=92s right to protect public health.

This political pressure and bullying not only threatens Thailand=92s
right to protect public health, but also has much wider implications.
If Thailand as a middle income country is intimidated then low income
countries will be discouraged from even trying to use the same
processes. On the other hand, if Thailand is successful, this will send
an encouraging message to poorer countries wanting to take similar
measures.
More student pressure, and a result!

In light of this pressure and its implications, we urged the UK
government to =93take a stronger stand on this issue, and offer Thailand
[its] explicit and active support=94. In case the government were in any
doubt about the importance of the issue, student campaigners joined a
Global Day of Action to demand that Abbott Laboratories stop its
bullying behaviour and ask the UK to speak out for Thailand=92s rights.

Finally, on 22 May, DFID wrote to People & Planet with an explicit
statement of support for Thailand=92s use of compulsory licensing.

     =93The Thai Government has made the decision to use these TRIPS
flexibilities in the form of compulsory licensing based on their
assessment of the public health need within Thailand. We support
Thailand=92s right to use compulsory licensing provisions in order to
protect public health, and in particular, to promote access to
medicines for all.

     =93We agree that Thailand=92s stated use of compulsory licensing
provisions has not broken any WTO rules as there is no obligation to
negotiate with the rights holder if the products are for public
non-commercial use.=94

With this statement the UK Government takes a clear stand and makes an
important move towards tackling the barriers that prevent countries
accessing affordable treatment for their people.

---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org