[Ip-health] Reuters: North-South battle looms on chief for U.N. agency

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

North-South battle looms on chief for U.N. agency
Mon May 12, 2008 6:25pm IST

By Robert Evans

GENEVA, May 12 (Reuters) - The U.N. World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) faces a potentially bitter North-South battle this
week over who will steer it through the next six years.

A total of 14 candidates are in the list to replace Director-General
Kamal Idris of Sudan who is stepping down a year early after
accusations that he faked his birth date to win quick promotion within
the body.

"This is very important for business because WIPO plays a key role in
managing global patent and trademark pacts which underpin many trade
agreements. And the DG can certainly influence the line it takes,"
said one IP analyst.

Some diplomats who follow U.N. activities in Geneva say the WIPO
election could reflect a wider struggle for influence in the world
body between Western nations and Islamic countries and their allies --
African states, Russia, China and Cuba.

"This is what we have seen in the Human Rights Council to the benefit
of the OIC (the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference) and
not to the benefit of universal human rights," said a Western envoy
who asked not to be named.

Of the WIPO candidates, six are from developed countries of the
"North" -- four from Europe and one each from Australia and Japan.
Latin America has three candidates, OIC countries two, Africa and
developing Asia one each, and Russia one.

POLITICS

The 83 countries in the WIPO Coordinating Committee which makes the
final choice are officially seeking the best-qualified candidate to
run a highly-technical agency, the U.N.'s richest, "but politics are
bound to play the main part," said an insider.

"North" countries have 30 seats on the committee, the OIC has 18 and
non-Islamic African and Asian states -- with China, North Korea and
Russia -- that normally line up with the OIC in the Rights Council,
have 20.

If both groups remain solid when only two candidates remain after
several rounds of voting, the Latin Americans and Caribbeans, who
include opponents of the West like Venezuela as well as allies like
Chile, will be the decision-makers.

Many diplomats predict that one of the final two is likely to be
Pakistan's Masood Khan, who as his country's ambassador in the Rights
Council has led an increasingly fierce OIC assault on Western
"Islamophobia" and "oppression of Muslims."

Facing off against him could be Australia's Frances Gurry, seen as
architect of WIPO's Internet domain name dispute settlement system and
a deputy director-general, and another Idris deputy, former French
ambassador Philippe Petit.

Both are know to have strong support as experts, as does the Brazilian
candidate Jose Graca Aranha, another insider at WIPO where he heads
the international registrations department for trademarks and
geographical indications.

Diplomats say Mexico's Jorge Amigo Castaneda could also emerge. He is
a former banker who has been involved in WIPO committees, and in IP
issues during international trade negotiations, since the late 1990s.

The other candidates are Alicja Adamczak of Poland, Toufiq Ali of
Bangladesh, Djorgji Filipov of Macedonia, Enrique Manalo of
Philippines, James Otieno Odek of Kenya, Bojan Pretnar of Slovenia,
Borius Simonov of Russia, Yoshiyuki Tagaki of Japan, and Jose Delmer
Urbizo of Honduras.

Voting by secret ballot begins on Tuesday, with each round eliminating
two candidates until nine are left. Then one will be eliminated each
round, leaving room, WIPO officials say, for negotiations on
withdrawal and switching support.

A final outcome is not expected before late on Wednesday. (Editing by
Janet Lawrence)

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997