UN Human Rights Council To Host Expert Panel On Medicines Access This Week

The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week will host a panel discussion among a notable range of experts on access to medicines and the controversial UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel report issued last September. The panel is expected to lead to a report sent on to the Human Rights Council for possible action next autumn.

The report, prepared by a global panel of senior experts in the field over the course of nearly a year, came up with a set of progressive recommendations, many of which have inspired developing countries to seek policy change at the international level. The panel report has been assailed by the United States and approached cautiously by European countries.

The 8 March panel at the UN in Geneva will be broadcast live and archived on http://webtv.un.org.

The draft details for the interactive event are available here. It states:

“Based on the request of the Human Rights Council, the panel discussion will provide a platform for States and all relevant stakeholders to undertake a comprehensive review of the challenges applicable to ensuring access to medicines, and to exchange views on good practices in this regard. It is envisaged that this exchange will explore, in particular, and from a human rights perspective, the recommendations presented by the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Access to Medicines (HLP). The panel discussion will also explore possible contributions from the Human Rights Council, together with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other United Nations entities, on providing States assistance to fulfil their obligations with regard to access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

The panel chair is Mouayed Saleh, vice-president and rapporteur of the Human Rights Council, with an opening statement by Kate Gilmore, UN deputy high commissioner for human rights. The moderator for the panel will be Amb. Maria Nazareth Farani Azevedo, Brazilian ambassador to the UN in Geneva.

Panellists are expected to include: former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel; Michael Kirby, former Justice of the High Court of Australia and member of the High-Level Panel; Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general for health systems and innovation at the World Health Organization; Antony Taubman, director of the Intellectual Property Division at the World Trade Organization; Carlos Correa, special advisor on trade and intellectual property at the intergovernmental South Centre in Geneva; James Zhan, director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and Thomas Bombelles, head of global health in the Global Issues Sector at the World Intellectual Property Organization.

A summary report of the discussion will be prepared by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and submitted to the 36th session of the Human Rights Council (scheduled for September 2017) as the basis for followup to the High-Level Panel report “from the human rights perspective, the note says.

 

Image Credits: OHCHR