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Misanet.com / IPS, 6 April - A group of African trade ambassadors achieved their objective of opening a debate within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the impacts of intellectual property rights and pharmaceutical patents on poor countries' access to low-cost medications. The decision of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to accept discussions on the matter opens the possibility for an interpretation of the WTO treaty that would reduce the prices of vital medications for developing countries. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, meanwhile, expressed the firm support of the world forum for the TRIPS agreement and the intellectual property rights protection system. At a meeting in Amsterdam Thursday with transnational pharmaceutical executives, Annan applauded the policies of these companies intended to reduce prices on medications used in treating HIV/AIDS, a disease that is pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. But the African delegations to the WTO charge that the policies of the drug transnationals on providing low-cost medicines do not go far enough. The pharmaceutical laboratories support the strict application of the TRIPS agreement, which has come under heavy public criticism ever since the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Oxfam International proposed its revision last February. The UK-based humanitarian organisation maintains that the provisions of the TRIPS accord impede the universal application of health policies and the access of poor populations to crucial medications. In Geneva, Harvey Bale, director of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, accused Oxfam this week of "myopia" and of advocating "soviet-like" systems for pharmaceutical research. In the debate at the WTO Thursday, the Brazilian delegation underscored the contribution of Oxfam International, and other groups such as Doctors without Borders, the South Centre and Quakers, to the discussion. The proposals of these NGOs reflect "the interests of public opinion in the implications of patents for the health arena," said a representative from Brazil. Zimbabwean negotiator Tadeus Chifamba, on behalf of the African members of the WTO, had called attention on Wednesday to the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS and other diseases in their countries, and the relation of between that phenomenon and the protection of intellectual property consecrated under TRIPS. The African initiative for further debate won the backing of several countries, including Brazil, Venezuela (on behalf of the Andean Community), India, Cuba, Argentina, Romania (representing Central Europe), Malaysia (representing the nations of Southeast Asia), Australia, Turkey, Jamaica and Egypt. The 140 members of the WTO are to meet in June for a special session of the TRIPS Council in order to define the scope of its provisions. At that time, members must "ensure that nothing in the TRIPS agreement will prevent countries from implementing sound health policies," according to the Brazilian delegation. Coinciding with the WTO decision, NGOs emitted a joint declaration exhorting the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, currently in session in Geneva, to adopt a resolution on pharmaceutical patents. The UN Commission, maintain the signatories, must establish that fundamental human rights, particularly the right to life, take priority over intellectual property rights. The NGOs' declaration also calls on the UN body to demand that the United States withdraw its complaint lodged with the WTO against Brazil, filed in defence of pharmaceutical transnationals. In addition, says the document, the Commission on Human Rights must pressure the 39 pharmaceutical transnationals involved in the lawsuit filed against South Africa to renounce that endeavour. The case involved the South African government's efforts in favour of producing low-cost drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. Heading the list of the declaration's signatories are the World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations, American Association of Jurists, International Association against Torture, Europe-Third World Centre and the World Confederation of Labour.
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