CIVICUS World Assembly

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CIVICUS World Assembly

• NGOs and the Global Access
• to Medicines Campaign
• 22 June 2006
• Duncan Matthews
• Intellectual Property Research Institute
• Queen Mary, University of London

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NGOs, intellectual property rights and
multilateral institutions

• An ESRC research project
• 1 October 2005 to 30 September 2006
• Funded as part of the ESRC
• Non-Governmental Public Action (NGPA)
• Programme

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NGOs, intellectual property rights and developing
countries

• We have been struck by the recent extent and
  influence of NGOs activity in IP. We believe
  that NGOs have made, and can continue to make in
  the future, a positive contribution to the
  promotion of the concerns of developing
  countries.
• Source Commission on Intellectual Property
  Rights (2002) page 165

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The research project

• Interviews with representatives of
• North and South public interest NGOs
• Industry NGOs
• Developing country governments
• World Trade Organisation (WTO)

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Intellectual property rights and access to
medicines

• WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual
  Property Rights (TRIPS)
• Patents for pharmaceutical products
• Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs)
• HIV/AIDS pandemic

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The access to medicines campaign WTO

• 30 November-3 December 1999 Seattle WTO
  Ministerial Meeting
• 14 November 2001 Doha WTO Ministerial Meeting
  acknowledged the TRIPS and access to medicines
  problem
• 30 August 2003 a temporary solution to
  facilitate access to medicines
• 6 December 2005 agreement to make the temporary
  solution permanent

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NGOs and the accessto medicines campaign WTO

• October 1996 Health Action International (HAI)
  Seminar on the WTO, Pharmaceutical Policies and
  Essential Drugs CPTech and Consumers
  International are participants
• September 1999 MSF Access to Medicines campaign
  launched
• February 2001 Oxfam Cut the Cost campaign
  launched
• 2001 onwards other NGOs become active in Geneva,
  including TWN, Quakers United Nations Office,
  ICTSD, 3D
• 2001 high profile access to medicines cases in
  Brazil and South Africa provided stimulus for NGO
  action at the WTO

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NGOs and the access to medicines campaign Brazil

• 2001 US complaint against Brazil at WTO led
  HIV/AIDS NGOs to demonstrate outside US Consulate
  in Sao Paulo
• NGO mobilisation Life Incentive Group (GIV),
  Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association
  (ABIA) and the Brazilian Network for Peoples
  Integration (REBRIP) Intellectual Property
  Working Group
• The role of technical expertise International
  Trade Law and Development Institute (IDCID)
• Role of international NGOs CPTech, MSF, Oxfam,
  ActionAid

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The access to medicines campaign South Africa

• 2001 High Court case brought by 39 global
  pharmaceutical companies
• NGO mobilisation the Treatment Action Campaign
  (TAC)
• The role of technical expertise the AIDS Law
  Project
• Role of international NGOs CPTech and MSF

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Lessons from the accessto medicines campaign WTO

• NGOs brought different strengths, including
• Providing technical advice expertise to
  developing country delegates
• Bringing developing country delegates together
• Producing briefing documents that delegates in
  Geneva can send back to capital
• Presenting arguments that it is politically
  unacceptable for developing country delegates to
  make
• Mobilising the press and public opinion in
  developed countries

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FindingsLessons from the access to medicines
campaign

• Access to medicines is an emotive issue with
  resonance in the North and the South
• Brazilian and South African NGOs provided the
  stimulus for subsequent NGO action in the North
• North-South NGO dialogue, mutual support and
  coordination
• Some South-South NGO interaction

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Findings coalitions

• Role of coalitions
• Bringing different strengths to a coalition
• Importance of leadership in a coalition
• Difficult to replicate the success, although
• Recent Brazil-Kenya RD Treaty proposals at WHO

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Findings NGOs and the WTO

• Intergovernmental organisations have an uneasy
  relationship with NGOs
• They are member-driven institutions, but
• WTO officials recognise that public interest NGOs
  assist delegates in their capacity to negotiate
• WTO perception that governments should be the
  main point of contact for NGOs
• Governments public interest NGOs are just one of
  a range of stakeholders they must take into
  account

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Policy recommendations

• Need for improved coordination in NGO community
• Need for NGOs to present evidence-based arguments
• Need for enhanced involvement of social movements
  and Southern NGOs in Geneva
• Need for technical assistance (North-South and
  South-South) to build capacity, particularly in
  social movements and Southern NGOs

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Further information

• Contact Duncan Matthews
• d.n.matthews_at_qmul.ac.uk
• Visit the research project website
• http//www.ipngos.org/