Substantive Negotiations to Begin in June for New Climate Agreement
This issue of the South Bulletin focuses on the preparations and progress made towards a new climate agreement in the Twenty-first session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP-21) to be held in Paris in December 2015, particularly during the COP-20 in Lima and a UNFCCC session in Geneva in February 2015.
Towards a More Coherent International Legal System on Farmers’ Rights: The Relationship of the FAO ITPGRFA, UPOV and WIPO
This Policy Brief outlines some key areas of interrelation among the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (more…)
Guidelines on Patentability and Access to Medicines
Until recently, the link between the examination of patents carried out by national patent offices and the right of citizens to access to medicines was not at all clear. They were two functions or responsibilities of the State that apparently had nothing to do with each other. Examining the growing literature on intellectual property and access to medicines, it seems that the analysis of one actor has been left out: the patent offices. (more…)
South Conference “2015 and the South: Preparing for a Year of Uncertainty and International Summits”
Venue: Room VIII, the Palais des Nations
Location: Geneva
The Conference reviewed the present problematic situation of the global economy and how it affected developing countries, as well as the state of multilateral negotiations in trade and other important areas. It was an opportunity for developing country policymakers and opinion shapers to reflect on the prospects for the South in the current global context and to identify possible ways forward. (more…)
North-South Forum on Multilateral Cooperation in a World of Crises
Venue: Room VIII, Palais des Nations
Location: Geneva
This Forum was organised by the South Centre with the cooperation of the Government of Finland. The objective of the Forum is to generate discussions on the state of multilateral cooperation at this crucial juncture when the world faces multiple crises, challenges and possibilities, including in the global economy, in the environment including on climate change, and in health care (including Ebola, other emerging diseases, and antibiotic resistance). (more…)
Speaking notes by Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre, for the Social Forum of the United Nations Human Rights Council, 18 February 2015
The following is a statement presented by Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre, during the 2015 Social Forum of the United Nations Human Rights Council which took place from 18 to 20 February 2015 in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. (more…)
The Battle To Curb Vulture Funds
More countries are now facing a worsening debt situation and if they embark on debt restructuring, they may face a challenge from “vulture funds”, as Argentina recently did.
This issue of the South Bulletin focuses on the battle to curb the vulture funds, and the effects these funds have had on developing countries and on global financial stability. (more…)
South Centre Statements on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes
The following are two Statements presented by the South Centre on Options for moving forward and Crisis Resolution & International Debt Workout Mechanisms for a multilateral legal framework for sovereign debt restructuring processes. (more…)
Understanding the Lima Climate Conference : A Proxy Battle for the 2015 Paris Agreement
I: Reaching agreement on the Lima outcome, after a near collapse
The annual United Nations climate conference, held in Lima, ended early on Sunday morning 14 December 2014 after over two weeks of intense negotiations and the trauma of an almost total collapse of this round of talks that was supposed to be an important step towards a new climate change agreement scheduled to be adopted in Paris in December 2015. (more…)
Internationalization of Finance and Changing Vulnerabilities in Emerging and Developing Economies
After a series of crises with severe economic and social consequences in the 1990s and early 2000s, emerging and developing economies (EDEs) have become even more closely integrated into what is widely recognized as an inherently unstable international financial system. Both policies in these countries and a highly accommodating global financial environment have played a role. Not only have their traditional cross-border linkages been deepened and external balance sheets expanded rapidly, but also foreign presence in their domestic credit, bond, equity and property markets has reached unprecedented levels. (more…)
Transition Period for TRIPS Implementation for LDCs: Implications for Local Production of Medicines in the East African Community
Article 66.1 of the WTO TRIPS Agreement grants the least developed countries (LDCs) a transition period during which they do not have to provide intellectual property rights protection according to the minimum requirements of the TRIPS Agreement. This transition period has been granted to LDCs to ensure that LDCs are not constrained by the existence of IP rights from taking suitable measures to develop a sound and viable technological base in different industrial sectors. (more…)
Patent Examination and Legal Fictions: How Rights are Created on Feet of Clay
Patents are often presented as an absolute property, comparable to property over land. This simplification overlooks that patent rights are conferred without a solid determination of the factual conditions required for such rights to arise out. The examination process of patent applications faces substantial limitations, even in the case of large patent offices, to determine whether a claimed invention actually meets the patentability standards, however defined. (more…)
