The WIPO Development Agenda and the Right to Development: Towards Bridging the Gap?

19th November 2009 • Co-organised with UNCTAD, OHCHR

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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) are pleased to invite you to a dialogue on “the WIPO Development Agenda and the Right to Development: Towards Bridging the Gap?”, Thursday 19th November 2009, 13:15-14:45, (Room B) World Intellectual Property Organization (34, Chemin des Colombettes CH-1211)

Objective
The aim of the dialogue is to examine possible linkages and synergies between the WIPO Development Agenda implementation process and the Right to Development in the context of the wider nexus between intellectual property and human rights.

Background
The WIPO Development Agenda is a landmark initiative to ensure that IPR are addressed within the broader context of economic, social development and the public interest. It also aims to ensure that WIPO, in manner consistent with its status as UN agency, fully integrates the development dimension in all its activities.
From this perspective, the implementation of WIPO Development Agenda (DA) has enormous potential for advancing the implementation of the right to development (RTD) which was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1986 in the Declaration on the Right to Development (UN GA resolution 41/128).
However, this connection remains relatively unknown. The WIPO DA implementation process is not closely followed by the human rights community and the relevance of the RTD framework is often not well understood in the IP community.

Achieving greater coherence to bridge this gap, in the context of the wider nexus between intellectual property and human rights, requires a sustained effort of dialogue, information and policy analysis and research.
The review by the High Level Task Force on the RTD of the WIPO DA within the framework of its work plan for 2008-2010, established by the Working Group on the RTD, could provide a valuable opportunity for this purpose. The Task Force will use the framework criteria it proposed in 2009 to assess the WIPO DA as a partnership for development.
More broadly, how can a human rights based approach be used to ensure an effective implementation of the WIPO DA? Recommendation 35 of the WIPO DA - requests WIPO “to undertake, upon request of Member States, new studies to assess the economic social and cultural impact of the use of intellectual property system in these states.” At the first session of the CDIP, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) encouraged Member States and the Committee to consider the use of human rights impact assessment in developing a work program for implementation of the recommendation bearing in mind, the internationally recognized human rights in the economic social and cultural fields. Yet not much has been done since then to heed this call.
The Dialogue aims to address these questions with the aim of contributing in a constructive manner to the WIPO DA implementation process.

Programme

Introduction

UNCTAD and ICTSD

Speakers

Ayuush Bat-Erdene, Officer-in-Charge, the Right to Development Unit, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) - topic “Mainstreaming the RTD: the UN debate and mandate of the OHCHR”

Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Member of the High Level Task Force on the Right to Development – topic “The High level Task force on the RTD and the WIPO Development Agenda”
Commentator

Mr. Mohamed Gad, Permanent Mission of Egypt

Mr. Carlos Mazal, WIPO

Exchange of views with participants

A light lunch will be served