|
||
|
THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE #189/190 (MAY/JUNE 2006) This issue's contents
An 'exceptional' World Health Assembly ends with several decisions by Martin Khor The 59th session of the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organisation, convened in Geneva from 22-27 May. While it focussed on a range of health issues, the most significant decision of the Assembly was a resolution to establish a working group to address the failings of the current patent system and regime of research and innovation to meet the needs of the developing countries.
by Martin Khor The decision of the 2006 World Health Assembly to establish a working group to devise a global strategy on a patent system, regime of research and development and new medicines to address the health needs of developing countries constitutes a major step forward in responding to growing public concern about the orientation of the current research and intellectual property systems. by Dylan C Williams The death of World Health Organisation Director-General Lee Jong Wook just before the start of the World Health Assembly came as a shock to the participants. As moves are under way to select a successor, the organisation is at the crossroads as evidence has emerged that its former head was under heavy US influence on crucial public health issues, such as access to medicines.
by Kanaga Raja Prior to the convening of the 2006 WHA, an appeal signed by more than 5,400 scientists, policy-makers, industry and NGO members calling for governments to play a greater leadership role in essential needs-driven research and development (R&D) for neglected diseases was presented to the late Dr Lee Jong Wook, the WHO's Director-General.
by Lim Li Ching The high cost of vaccines for avian flu and the need to prevent commercial monopoly over the medicines that are developed from stocks of the virus provided by affected countries emerged as a key issue at the 59th World Health Assembly.
by Martin Khor Meeting on the sidelines of the 2006 WHA, Health Ministers from 10 Latin American countries pledged to avoid any commitments in bilateral and regional trade agreements that would compel their countries to adopt more stringent patent standards than those required by the WTO agreements and to fully utilise the safeguards permitted by the said agreements while avoiding any broadening of the scope of patentability and extension of what is currently patentable.
by Sangeeta Shashikant Legal and political opposition in India to the patent application for a key AIDS drug has highlighted a looming problem that patients in India and in many other developing countries may increasingly find new medicines unaffordable.
by Edward Hammond There was no agreement at the WHA on the contentious issue of the destruction of the smallpox virus stocks held by the US and Russia. Despite the strong concern expressed by developing countries over the delay in resolving this issue, the matter was adjourned for further consideration by the WHO's Executive Board in January 2007.
by Edward Hammond While the WHA focused attention on the destruction of the remaining stocks of the smallpox virus held by the US and Russia, another important issue is whether countries will, in view of the patents and patent applications on smallpox drugs, have access to affordable drugs and vaccines if there is a resurgence of the disease.
Breakthrough international agreement on genetically modified grain shipments by Lim Li Ching & Lim Li Lin A UN biosafety meeting in Brazil in March witnessed an important breakthrough when agreement was finally reached on international documentation requirements for bulk shipments of genetically modified commodity grains. 2010 deadline for agreement on genetic resources benefit sharing by Lim Li Lin The 8th Conference of the Parties (COP 8) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) ended with agreement on how to progress on access and benefit sharing (ABS), a key issue that has dogged the CBD for many years. UN biodiversity conference upholds moratorium on 'Terminator Technology' by Lim Li Lin The issue of whether to continue a de facto moratorium on the use of 'Terminator Technology' (which renders seeds sterile, thus preventing farmers from reusing seeds) dominated the first week of negotiations at the 8th Conference of the Parties (COP 8) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which was held in Curitiba, Brazil, from 20-31 March. Lim Li Lin reports.
Why a global economic deluge looms by Gabriel Kolko As a result of financial liberalisation, the demons of greed are loose and the international financial system is on the verge of a serious crisis, says Gabriel Kolko.
Honduras: New damage from old wounds by David Werner In the 1980s, when the US decided to destabilise the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, it pressured Honduras to allow the use of the country as a base for the US-backed and financed Contra rebels to train and launch attacks. As a result, the border area of Honduras and Nicaragua was littered with hundreds of thousands of landmines. Although these landmines continue to kill and maim villagers and their animals, the US, which provided the mines and trained the Contras to plant them, has largely turned its back on the ongoing 'collateral damage'.
Lao hill tribes suffer from US-instigated crackdown on opium by Tom Fawthrop An ill-conceived campaign spearheaded by the US government to wipe out opium poppy cultivation in the mountains of northern Laos has spawned a humanitarian crisis among the hill tribes dependent on the crop for their livelihood. Recycling the death squads by Brad Miller With paramilitaries reorganising into new units under different names, the claim of the Colombian government that it has completely 'demobilised' these 'death squads' is patently false. US blatantly intervenes in run-up to Nicaraguan elections Even for a country with a long record of flagrant interventions in the internal affairs of other countries, the conduct of the current US ambassador to Nicaragua, Paul Trivelli, has gone beyond all bounds. Fearful of a Sandinista victory in the November presidential elections, he has sent a letter offering US financial and technical support to every right-wing party in the country to forestall such an eventuality. Iran target of apparent disinformation ploy by Jim Lobe The Iranian President's questioning of the Holocaust and his intemperate statements about Israel have made him an easy target for disinformation campaigns. Jim Lobe reports on one such recent disinformation operation. US Jewish community worried about Iran backlash by Jim Lobe In view of the growing perception that Israel and its US supporters were responsible for plunging the US into its disastrous and increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, leaders of the US Jewish community are uneasy about Washington's moves to link its confrontation with Iran and Israel's security.
The epic struggle of the Chagossian people by David Vine Since 1967, when the US and UK governments forcibly uprooted them from their Indian Ocean archipelago home to make way for a US military base, Chagossians have sued, struggled, protested and held hunger strikes to return to their homeland. Recently, for the second time, Britain's High Court of Justice ruled that their expulsion had been illegal. David Vine elucidates their tortuous legal battle and the interesting pioneering legal research that has been undertaken to substantiate their claims for the harm and suffering inflicted on them. Israel's 'demographic demon' in court by Jonathan Cook A legal challenge to an Israeli law which effectively ends marriages between Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and Israeli citizens has brought to the surface Israel's 'demographic demon' - the fear that Israel's Jewish majority is being eroded by the growth of the Palestinian population.
Bush, Blair and the politics of contrition by Jeremy Seabrook Commenting on the apparent admission by both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair that they had made 'mistakes' in the conduct of the Iraq war, Jeremy Seabrook says that the politics of compunction turns out to be an apology for centuries of imperial infallibility.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer: Indonesia's greatest novelist by Max Lane In April, Indonesia lost one of its greatest literary figures and a fearless fighter for the cause of democracy. Max Lane, who translated some of his best known works, pays tribute to Pramoedya Ananta Toer. For subscription and enquiries: THIRD WORLD NETWORK Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: twnet@po.jaring.my
|
||
