# \[e-drug\] UN Body warns of conflicts between TRIPS and Human Rights **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [August 28, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-un-body-warns-of-conflicts-between-trips-and-human-rights/9017 "2000-08-28T00:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Toby\_Kasper1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9f8e36/32.png) [@Toby\_Kasper1](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Toby_Kasper1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-un-body-warns-of-conflicts-between-trips-and-human-rights/9017/1 "2000-08-28T00:06:57Z")
E-drug: UN Body warns of conflicts between TRIPS and Human   Rights --------------------------------------------- WARNING: LONG MESSAGE For more information on the work of both the UN Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and INCHRITI, please contact: Miloon Kothari, Habitat International Coalition and INCHRITI. Tel./Fax: 91.11.4628492; E-mail: hichrc@ndf.vsnl.net.in Peter Prove, Lutheran World Federation and INCHRITI. Tel: 41.22.7916364; Fax: 41.22.7988616; E-mail: pnp@lutheranworld.org UNITED NATIONS BODY WARNS OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: COULD INFLUENCE PATENTS FOR DRUGS, BIOTECH SEEDS Geneva - On August 17, 2000, an important UN human rights body unanimously adopted a resolution calling into question the impact of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS) on the human rights of peoples and communities, including farmers and indigenous peoples worldwide. The surprising resolution signals a growing concern about an industry-driven intellectual property agreement that protects corporate patents around the world, sometimes at the expense of national economic and health concerns. The TRIPs agreement sets international rules to protect patents in a whole host of sectors, but it is particularly important for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In the unprecedented resolution, the UN Sub-Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights pointed out the dire consequences on the human rights to food, health and self-determination if the TRIPS Agreement is implemented in its current form. Reminding governments of the primacy of human rights obligations over economic policies and programs, the resolution states that there are "apparent conflicts between the intellectual property rights regime embodied in the TRIPS Agreement, on the one hand, and international human rights law, on the other." "This is a pathbreaking resolution in more ways than one," stated Miloon Kothari from the International NGO Committee on Human Rights in Trade and Investment (INCHRITI), an alliance of eight human rights coalitions that advocated action by the Sub-Commission on TRIPS. First and foremost this timely resolution signifies the resolve of the UN human rights programme to monitor the work of the WTO. Basing itself on the provisions of both the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, "this historic resolution has affirmed the primacy of human rights and environmental obligations over the commercial and profit driven motives upon which agreements such as TRIPS are based." added Kothari. According to Peter Prove of the Lutheran World Federation, a human rights analysis of the interpretation and implementation of the TRIPS Agreement reveals that TRIPS has skewed the balance inherent in intellectual property law systems away from the public interest and in favour of intellectual property rights holders. He said that, contrary to some analyses, intellectual property rights do not have the character of fundamental human rights, but rather of subordinate or instrumental rights. Simon Walker of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that the TRIPS Agreement's requirement that pharmaceuticals be patented by all WTO Members "might be appropriate for countries with high levels of investment in medical research. But," he asked, "is it suitable for countries with a high level of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis infection that have not yet developed a pharmaceutical research base? For these countries, access to drugs -- rather than innovation of drugs -- is the imperative. Given that there is a link between patent protection and higher prices for pharmaceuticals, the grant of private property rights could be detrimental to public health -- and development in general -- in these countries." The UN Sub-Commission's resolution marks the beginning of what promises to be an intense monitoring of WTO work by the UN human rights system.The resolution asks the WTO, in general, and the Council on TRIPS during its ongoing review of the TRIPS Agreement, in particular, "to take fully into account the existing State obligations under international human rights instruments." It also asks the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to prepare a report on the implications of the TRIPS Agreement and options for further action by the Sub-Commission. The resolution has also called upon the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant UN agencies to undertake an analysis of the human rights impacts of the TRIPS agreement. The resolution comes at a time of intense questioning by developing country governments of the TRIPS Agreement and its interpretation and implementation, and of calls by numerous national and international civil society alliances for the TRIPS Agreement to be brought in line with human rights and environmental imperatives. Stressing that intellectual property rights have to serve public benefit, and concerned by the true motives of the TRIPS agreement, the resolution calls upon governments to integrate into their national and local legislations and policies provisions that, in accordance with international human rights instruments and principles, protect the social function of intellectual property.