With the UN adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among other notable global events, 2015 is set to be a significant year on the human development calendar. First, as the year draws to a close, it ends on a somewhat high note after least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa and elsewhere bagged some empowering compromises at the just-concluded World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. Among the compromises was a waiver on the patent policy on medicine. WTO ministers agreed to uphold a rule that allows poor countries to import cheaper copies of patented medicines –generic drugs – until further notice. This will allow time for LDCs to develop their pharmaceutical industries. Another compromise was the agreement for more favourable rules of origin, which lowered the threshold of value addition in a manufacturing country from 35 per cent to 25 per cent. Rules of origin specify how much processing must take place locally before goods can be considered to be the product of the exporting country. This, in effect, means that “an LDC product can have up to 75 per cent imported component and still enjoy duty free and quota free market access to developed country markets.” And, there were other concessions, such as the elimination of export subsidies, of which WTO member countries agreed to eliminate their subsidies by a half by the end of 2017. The remaining half would be reduced annually so that all forms of subsidies are eliminated by 2020 by developed countries, and by 2023 by the developing nations, such as Brazil, South Korea and China. But, as this column has argued in the recent past, it is gratifying to note that the WTO did not disappoint on flexibilities on patent protection included in the WTO’s agreement on intellectual property. The waiver to allow poor countries to import generic drugs, which was due to expire in January 2016, has now been extended until two-thirds of WTO members ratify the proposal to remove the waiver, which, according to one WTO official, “could take another 20 years.” Led by Uganda in prior negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, just before the Nairobi WTO Ministerial Conference, LDCs pushed to permanently remain protected from the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property rights on the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. As this column observed last month as the negotiations were going on, it is no coincidence Uganda is spearheading the push. In collaboration with the Indian generic drug maker Cipla, Uganda’s Quality Chemicals Limited (QCIL) has been manufacturing ARVs and artemesinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for malaria since 2009. The WTO waiver on patented medicines becomes even more significant since it comes only months after the UN General Assembly adopted the new SDGs, which affirm the right of developing countries to utilise TRIPS Agreement flexibilities to ensure access to medicines for all. The SDGs are carrying forward the Post-2015 agenda from the Millennium Development Goals. The SDGs are a framework geared toward global development agenda through 2030. SDG Goal 3 – on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages – includes the target of providing “access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines”, and in that context recalls the affirmation in the Doha Declaration on the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all. All told, with the adoption of the SDGs, the WTO Ministerial Conference punctuated a year set to be remembered hence as historical for global development, and especially for women in Africa. The African Union dedicated 2015 as “Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063.” The year also falls mid-way between the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020). 2015 also marked the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+20), and the fifteenth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. UNSCR 1325 calls on UN Member States to increase the participation of women in the “prevention and resolution of conflicts,” and in the “maintenance and promotion of peace and security.” Happy New Year.
