The South Centre Monthly, July 2019
Inequality is one of the greatest challenges that the world needs to face. Inequality is intimately linked with poverty. Although there has been progress in reducing poverty, a large part of the global population (overwhelmingly living in developing countries) is still denied access to a dignified life. While no poverty and reduced inequality are two of the outstanding Sustainable Development Goals, these and other goals are unlikely to be achieved by 2030. In fact, inequality is on the rise. Changing this situation will certainly require significant efforts at the national and regional level. But it also requires an international architecture that supports those efforts by respecting the policy space that countries need and coordinating constructive actions within the multilateral system. The current initiatives to ‘reform’ this system will only be legitimate if they recognize the gaps in the levels of development and contribute to effectively address them under a fair, pro-development system of rules. Please see last month’s SouthViews on “Understanding global inequality in the 21st century” by Jayati Ghosh, development economist and Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
For the month of July, the South Centre released publications on the development agenda in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the US’ Special 301 Report, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and access to affordable drugs in Mexico and how to control transfer pricing in Africa. In addition, news were published on, inter alia, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ‘reform’ and the contribution of development to human rights. Moreover, the Centre’s staff organized and participated in meetings on patent examination, South-South cooperation, climate finance, energy in Africa, universal health coverage and antimicrobial resistance, among others.
This South Centre Monthly provides more information on these issues and activities; we will welcome your comments.
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The South Centre Monthly – July 2019, Issue 13
This article was tagged: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Access to Medicines, Affordable Medicines, Africa, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Asia, Biosimilars, Buenos Aires Plan of Action Plus 40 (BAPA+40), Climate Change, Climate Financing, Energy, Health, Human Rights, Human Rights Council, Inequality, Intellectual Property, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Mexico, Patent, Pharmaceuticals, Public Health, South-South Cooperation, Tax Cooperation, Tax Law, Tax Policy, Tax Reform, Transfer Pricing, Triangular Cooperation, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United States (US), Universal Health Coverage (UHC), US Special Section 301, US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), WIPO, WIPO Development Agenda, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Trade Organization (WTO), WTO
