Indigenous Peoples Seek Involvement In WTO To Defend Rights (Video)

Indigenous peoples are losing their genetic resources and traditional knowledge and need to be involved in negotiations on World Trade Organization intellectual property rules and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, representatives told a conference on the subject last week. In a podcast and video interview with Intellectual Property Watch below, the indigenous representatives explain their case.

Faced with cases of genetic resources (GR) and associated traditional knowledge (TK) misappropriation and misuse, indigenous peoples are participating in a number of international fora to make their voice heard. They are however absent from the WTO discussions.

Indigenous people are “able to provide evidence that we suffer and are victims of implementing intellectual property regimes with a focus on economic value,”  Q”apaj Conde Choque of Bolivia said in the video interview. “We hope that we can rebalance the TRIPS agreement based on the CBD, on human rights and in particular, indigenous rights.”

At the WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the regular request by many member governments to invite the CBD on an ad hoc basis to present the 2010 Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization has been firmly opposed by the United States.

At issue is the mandatory disclosure of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in patent applications.

The 7-8 June conference on TRIPS/CBD linkage, led by India and cosponsored by Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, was jointly organised by India’s Centre for WTO Studies, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and the South Centre. The event invited indigenous representatives to explain the importance of protecting GR and associated TK, the need for a mandatory disclosure system in the patent systems, and the particular issues of GR and TK.

In a podcast below from the event, Jennifer Corpuz, Q”apaj Conde Choque, Aroha Te Pareake Mead, and Preston Hardison explain why it is important to include indigenous peoples in WTO conversations. They also talk about the threat of biopiracy, and the use of mandatory disclosure.

Listen to the podcast here

Corpuz is legal officer at the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education, Tebtebba Foundation, Quezon City, the Philippines. Conde Choque is a lawyer at the Centro de Estudio Multidisplinarios Aymara in Bolivia. Mead is a researcher from the Ngati Awa and Ngati Porou Maori tribes of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Hardison is a policy analyst for the Tulalip Tribes of Washington state (US).

In an 8-minute video, Corpuz, Conde Choque, Mead, and C. Lalremruata, director of Zo Indigenous Forum in India, explain what they contributed to the conference, and what the conference brought them, the importance for indigenous peoples to present concrete cases of misappropriation, their human rights, and potential future developments.

The video interview is available here

 

Image Credits: Catherine Saez