On 1 March 2017, Bangladesh, Brazil, India and South Africa, the Secretariat of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines and the South Centre convened a side event at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Access to Medicines: Opportunities to Advance Health Technology and Access. This event took place on the margins of the WTO TRIPS Council.
Email records and memoranda released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in response to a Knowledge Ecology International Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States government opposed including India’s proposed agenda item on the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines for discussion at the 140th WHO Executive Board meeting.
The full set of documents, which was released to KEI without redaction, are available here:
In December 2016, during the twilight of President Barack Obama’s 44th presidency, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted a Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the United States of America. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The TPRM takes place in the “Trade Policy Review Body which is actually the WTO General Council — comprising the WTO’s full membership — operating under special rules and procedures” (Source: WTO, Trade Policy Reviews: Brief Introduction).
On the morning of Monday, 23 January 2017, India delivered the following intervention at the 140th session of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board requesting the “explicit inclusion” of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel Report in the “provisional agenda of the EB140 as a separate agenda item under item 8.”
In making the case for the inclusion of the UN HLP in the WHO’s Executive Board deliberations, India articulate the following:
On Wednesday, 14 December 2016, the delegation of South Africa delivered a comprehensive, moving account of South Africa’s “journey in the quest to provide access to essential medicines” at WIPO’s Standing Committee on the Law of Patents.
South Africa Access to Medicines: South Africa’s Experience Related to the Topic of Access to Medicines at the Standing Committee on the Laws of Patents
On Tuesday, 13 December 2016, India delivered the following statement on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group during WIPO discussions on patents and health.
Statement by India on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group on the Agenda Item – Patents and Health – delivered by Dr. Sumit Seth, First Secretary (Economic Affairs) on 13 December 2016
Madam Chair,
India has the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Asia Pacific Group. The group would like to make 3 concrete points related to this agenda item
On Monday, 12 December 2016, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered its opening statement to the 25th session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP).
KEI Opening Statement, for SCP 25
12 December 2016
KEI will discuss two topics. The first concerns government rights in patented inventions, when the government funds or partly funds the research.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) held the 39th Meeting of its Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) from 6-8 December 2016 in Geneva Switzerland. In his opening speech on Tuesday, 6 December 2016, Michel Sidibé (Executive Director, UNAIDS) paid tribute to the life of Australian national Katie Kirk – who passed away on 20 October 2016 while on mission in Indonesia.
On Friday, 18 November 2016, WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) reconvened in plenary at 8:45 PM to review the Summary of the Chair. The time stamp of the draft document is 8:00 PM.
The following conclusions relate to the Committee’s work on a proposed treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations.
