At Christmas, we traditionally retell Dickens's story of Scrooge, who cared more for money than for his fellow human beings. What would we think of a Scrooge who could cure diseases that blighted thousands of people's lives but did not do so? Clearly, we would be horrified. But this has increasingly been happening in the name of economics, under the innocent sounding guise of "intellectual property rights."
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Scrooge and intellectual property rights
Stiglitz JE: British Medical Journal 333: 1279-1280, 23 December 2006
Secret structures, hidden crimes: Urgent steps to address hidden ownership, money laundering and tax evasion from developing countries
Eurodad: January 2013
In this new report, Eurodad reports that hidden ownership of companies and other legal structures facilitate tax evasion, and argues that better information about who owns and controls companies and other set-ups is key to bringing trillions of dollars of offshore wealth back into the tax net and to help prevent future capital flight. The authors call for governments to create publicly available registers of the owners and controllers of companies, trusts and other legal structures and to improve compliance with, enforcement of and sanctions for anti-money laundering rules.
Sections of the Kenya Anti Counterfeiting Act struck down as a threat to fundamental human rights
Musungu SF: Ideas in Development blog, 23 April 2012
This article provides a local legal analysis of the ruling from the Kenyan High Court case in April 2012, where the judge found the Kenya Anti-Counterfeit Act was unconstitutional in hindering access to generic medicines, thereby undermining public health needs and the right to health of all Kenyans. The judge recommended the State reconsider and appropriately amend section 2 of the Anti-Counterfeit Act in a manner that ensures that the State fulfils its obligations to ensure that Kenyans have access to the highest attainable standard of health. The author of this article questions the usefulness of the Anti-Counterfeit law, arguing that the existing legal framework in Kenya was sufficient for enforcing intellectual property rights. He asks why Kenyan taxpayers should be paying for the implementation of this law as well as for the costs of running the Anti-Counterfeit Agency.
Seeds of Resistance, Harvests of Hope: Farmers halt a land grab in Mozambique
Wise T: Food Tank, 2018
On July 26, 2018, farmers in Xai-Xai, Mozambique, achieved a milestone. They met to formalize their new farmers’ association, elect leaders, and prepare a petition to the local government for land. The association, christened Tsakane, which means “happy” in the local Changana language, was the culmination of six years of resistance to a Chinese land grab that had sparked protest and outrage. The association now has a request pending for its own land. The difference between a large-scale agricultural development project and a land grab is consultation and consent, and this one had neither. Some 7,000 farmers had moved onto the irrigated lands along the Lower Limpopo River in the 1980s after a state farm ceased operations. Farmers reported that they were encouraged to do so by the local government. Mozambique’s Land Law is one of the most progressive in Africa, recognizing the land rights of peasant farmers whether or not they can show formal title, as long as they have been farming the land for 10 years or more. That applies not only to community or village land, it applies to estate land for which the government holds the formal land title. Instead of giving all the best land and infrastructure—particularly irrigation—to foreign investors who then displace local farmers, they ask why not give the land to those farmers? Help them organize into marketing cooperatives, water use associations, and credit unions. With the formal recognition of the Tsakane Farmers’ Association, the Xai-Xai farmers are planning to do just that. They hope to get collective land title to 750 acres of good land for their 300 members.
Seizing the wheel, and crashing the car: Reflections on the G20 Draft Communique
Woodward D: Economic Governance for Health (EG4H), 1 April 2009
The draft G20 Communiqué recognises explicitly in its opening paragraph, that 'a global crisis requires a global solution'. But at no point does it recognise any need for a global process to decide what that global solution should be. The G20 members appear determined that they, and they alone, should determine the future course of the global economy – and that it should be designed to protect their financial interests, with only token efforts to limit the damage to the rest of the world. They are trying to seize control of the global economy but, in doing so, the author argues that they are amply demonstrating why they must not be allowed to succeed.
Seychelles to launch new corporate social responsibility fund
The People: December 2012
Pierre Laporte, Minister of Finance for the Seychelles, revealed government’s new plans for a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Fund in his budget speech in December 2012. Businesses now have four options to contribute to social development, namely sponsorship, donations, direct funding of community projects, or contribute to the new Fund. All businesses that make a turnover of SR 1 million and above will be expected to contribute to the Fund a rate of 0.5% of their turnover. The Minister clarified that Government will continue to fund infrastructure projects in districts, and CSR funds would be expected to go to areas such as environment, beach and coastal management projects, health and wellness including sports, renewable energy and others to be decided upon. Supporters of the Fund are hoping it will become a sustainable funding mechanism for civil society groups.
Shaking the Habitual: End Extreme Wealth
The Knife: October 2015
This satirical presentation by Swedish electronic music duo The Knife explores “the newest millennium goal” – end extreme wealth. More than 40 panels feature various experts expounding on the problems faced by the extremely wealthy using much of the same language that is used to describe the world’s poorest.
Sharm El Sheikh Action Plan (2010-2012)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China: 12 November 2009
One of the action plans emerging from the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation – the main platform for Chinese-African relations – is the Sharm El Sheikh Action Plan, in which the Chinese government committed itself over the period 2010-2012 to, among other things, send 50 agricultural technology teams to Africa and help train 2,000 African agricultural technicians, build and implement 20 agricultural technology demonstration centres in Africa, and implement 100 joint research and demonstration projects to aid science and technology transfer. The government has also committed to contribute medical equipment and malaria-fighting materials worth 500 million yuan (US$76.35 million) to 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and treatment centres built by China for Africa in the three-year period. China will invite African professionals working in the field of malaria to attend training programmes in China in an effort to ensure sustainable development of the project. The country will also help relevant African countries train a total of 3,000 doctors, nurses and administrative personnel. Africa and China pledged to scale up joint efforts to prevent and treat major communicable diseases like HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, avian influenza and influenza A (H1N1). The two sides will continue to enhance co-operation in setting up mechanisms to handle public health emergencies.
Shifting Mountains of Electronic Waste
Lubick N: Environ Health Perspect: 01 April 2012
Local users are now the main source of electronic waste in Africa, but illegal imports of old computers, televisions, and other electronics devices from Europe, Asia, and North America still make their way there. That’s the finding of Where Are WEEE in Africa?, a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report about waste electronic and electrical equipment—also known as WEEE, or e-waste—in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria.1 A large portion of these imports are of good quality, have a decent life expectancy, and bring many socioeconomic benefits, according to the report, but the rest is hazardous junk that is often resold and recycled under unsafe conditions. This article discusses the findings from the Where Are WEEE in Africa? report and the problems of its safe recycling and disposal.
Should Industry Support LDCs’ Request For Unlimited Time To Implement The TRIPS Agreement? Absolutely
Ashton-Hart N: intellectual Property Watch, 4 March 2013
In this article, the author argues that the global intellectual property (IP) system cannot be seen as blind to basic concepts of social justice, proportionality and common humanity or it will lose legitimacy. This is why it is wrong to force less-developed countries (LDCs) to implement TRIPS fully based upon a timetable that disregards their public health needs. If they are forced to do this, the world’s poorest will end up paying the richest for medicine and other essential technologies, which will cast an unethical shadow over IP rights. IP is already abused by that kind of rent-seeking in some sectors – and has been for some time – and the actions of a relative few have damaged the interests of the rest. But the author believes this is an opportunity for this unspoken majority to make clear that the actions of a relative few aren’t the norm, but the exception. The LDCs’ proposal is an opportunity for all concerned with IP to recapture legitimacy. For companies that take their corporate social responsibility (CSR) seriously and have active CSR programmes, the author urges them to support the LDC extension as not only the ethical thing to do but also as a way for them to gain good publicity at no cost.