[Ip-health] WHO Members Near Accord On Global Strategy On IP And Health

[James Love]

On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 09:29 +0200, Judit Rius Sanjuan wrote:
> Intellectual Property Watch
> 24 May 2008
> WHO Members Near Accord On Global Strategy On IP And Health

> Developed countries such as the United States, European Union and
> Canada have been criticised by some civil society members for
> seemingly opposing human rights and public health principles within
> the negotiation while not informing their stakeholders of the
> approach. Officials from those countries could not be reached for
> comment.
>

I agree with this last paragraph, and offer also a somewhat different
framing of the issue.  The US government, particularly under the Bush
Administration is often more transparent in its advocacy of
pharmaceutical industry positions, and we often can approach the US
delegation, and find out roughly what the US is saying in the
negotiations.  What is sometimes more difficult to establish are the
positions taken by Canada, the member states of the European Union, or
some other developed countries.  For the first 4 days of this round, the
negotiators from the European Member states were particularly closed to
discussions with public health groups, and were secretive about EU
positions, many of which closely echoed those advocated in a more
transparent manner by the Bush Administration.

The secrecy regarding the positions is normally designed to conceal from
the public the anti-health and anti-consumer positions that high income
countries have embraced this week.  Certainly the negotiators themselves
know what is being said behind closed doors, and the pharmaceutical
industry is extremely well briefed by the US, the European Union and the
Swiss delegations.  The public, on the other hand, is often not well
informed, as to the specific actions taken by their own country (or EU)
negotiators.

That said, the outcome of the negotiation this week was good, and in the
end, the high income countries showed enough flexibility to move things
forward in a concrete and powerful way.

  Jamie

--
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International
mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040,
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