PHM-Exch> UN human rights complaint on Obama's trade policies launched today

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Asia Russell <asia at healthgap.org>
http://www.healthgap.org

Below is a release from a press conference yesterday at the International
AIDS Conference in Vienna and a Reuters article that ran on the complaint,
available at http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66J1CG20100720.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Flynn, Health GAP, +1 917.517.5202, jflynn at healthgap.org

AIDS Activists Launch United Nations Complaint on Impact of Obama
Administration Trade Policies on Access to Medicines

Bush-era Policies Haven’t Changed Despite Obama Pledges, Say Activists

20 July 2010—At the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria today
AIDS activists from the U.S., Africa, Asia, and Latin America filed a
complaint against the United States with the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Health.  The complaint argues that the United
States, working side by side with multinational pharmaceutical companies, is
using its trade policies to coerce countries to adopt intellectual property
policies that increase the costs of medicines and violate the human rights
of their citizens. These policies directly contradict the promises President
Obama made while he was a candidate, when he committed to 'break the
stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on these
life-saving drugs' and pledged support for 'the rights of sovereign nations
to access quality-assured, low-cost generic medication to meet their
pressing public health needs.'


Specifically, the complaint alleges that the U.S. threatens countries with
trade sanctions for making use of legal, WTO-compliant measures that bring
down the cost of AIDS drugs and other essential medicines. The U.S.
government does so by listing these countries on “watch lists” in a process
known as “Special 301,” which threatens sanctions against foreign countries
for their intellectual property laws. In 2010 the U.S. put countries
including Thailand, India, and Brazil—key manufacturers of AIDS drugs for
African and other developing nations—on these lists for failing to adopt
intellectual property laws that would undermine people’s health in order to
maximize profits for big pharmaceutical companies.


“President Obama promised to support the rights of countries to make
low-cost AIDS medicines available to their people, but instead his trade
representative is threatening countries who are doing just that,” said
Matthew Kavanagh, Director of US Advocacy at Health GAP (Global Access
Project), a US-based AIDS and human rights group. A range of health experts
testified at a recent USTR hearing on Special 301. However, the Special 301
Report released by the White House in 2010 virtually ignored this expert
guidance. “President Obama is continuing policies that are holdovers from
Bush—putting drug company profits over peoples lives,” said Kavanagh.


“The complaint filed today demonstrates that the continuation of Special 301
attacks on affordable medicine policies violate international human rights
obligations in addition to the Obama administration's own policies," said
Sean Flynn, a Professor of Law at American University and Associate Director
of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property.


“Due to compulsory licenses, a great number of Thai patients now have access
to essential medicines for free through the national health insurance system
and have regained their quality of life.,” said Supatra Nakapew, Foundation
for AIDS Rights in Thailand. “Through the complaint submitted to the Special
Rapporteur for the Right to Health, we urge the U.S. government to respect
human rights and stop pressuring Thailand and other developing countries.
Moreover, the U.S. government should encourage developing countries to
actively promote the use of TRIPS flexibility measures to increase access to
anti-retroviral and other essential medicines.”


Over a dozen groups including Health GAP (Global Access Project), the
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, the Deli Network of People
Living with HIV/AIDS, the Thai NGOs Coalition on AIDS and Thai AIDS
Treatment Action Group (and several other Thai groups) and the Agua Buena
Human Rights Association of Costa Rica submitted the complaint with legal
counsel from Sean Flynn of American University’s Program on Information
Justice and Intellectual Property


The full complaint is online at www.healthgap.org/UNComplaint


# # #

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66J1CG20100720

U.N. urged to probe U.S. trade stance on generic drugs

By Doug Palmer
Jul 20, 2010

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AIDS groups on Tuesday accused the United States of
violating the health rights of millions of poor people around the world
through trade policies that make it harder for them to get life-saving
drugs.

A coalition that includes Health Gap, the Foundation for AIDS Rights and the
Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS formally asked Anand Grover, the
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, to look into the matter.

The special rapporteur can respond to alleged violations by asking the
concerned government to clarify its policies, reminding it of health right
obligations and requesting information on any corrective action the
government is taking.

The groups were to hold a press conference at the International AIDS
Conference in Vienna on Tuesday.

Their ire is directed at an annual report produced by the U.S. Trade
Representative's office that ranks countries with the worst records on
protecting U.S. intellectual property rights for goods ranging from CDs to
medicines.

They accused the United States of using the "Special 301" report to pressure
countries to give up certain public health rights they have under a World
Trade Organization agreement on intellectual property rights known as TRIPS.

"Up to and including the 2009 Special 301 report, Brazil, India, Thailand
and other countries were threatened with sanctions under Special 301 for
taking advantage of TRIPS flexibilities, including utilizing transition
periods and issuing compulsory licenses" to allow domestic firms to produce
cheaper versions of drugs patented by U.S. companies, the groups said in
their allegation letter to Grover.

This year's Special 301 report again put Thailand on its "priority watch
list," one step short of its most serious designation. The country has
battled with U.S. drug companies over steps it has taken in its aggressive
anti-AIDS campaign.

USTR also announced a special "out-of-cycle" review of Thailand's
intellectual property rights regime, a step praised by Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America, the U.S. drug industry's powerful
lobby group.

But in the same report, USTR reaffirmed its support for countries using
their TRIPS flexibilities as embodied in an international pledge known as
the Doha Declaration, which says they are not bound by global intellectual
property rights from taking steps to deal with public health crises.

Sean Flynn, associate director of the American University's Program on
Information Justice and Intellectual Property, accused President Barack
Obama of not following through on a campaign promise to support access to
low-cost generic drugs.

Obama's campaign literature pledged "to break the stranglehold that a few
big drug and insurance companies have on these life-saving drugs," said
Flynn, who is the counsel of record on the groups' letter to the UN special
rapporteur.
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