4:30 PM, NOVEMBER 13, 2001, DOHA
Compiled by James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
"The declaration (as it stands) is a good first step. The developed
countries, in agreeing to the declaration, have committed themselves to this
process. We want to see a commitment on their part, and their pharmaceutical
lobbies, to stop pressures on developing countries. The developing countries
can get down to the work of implementing and enacting domestic measures, with
the guarantee that there will not be pressures or legal threats."
-- Cecilia Oh, Third World Network
"It is a definite step forward though it could be stronger. The declaration
explicitly recognizes the issues as well as sovereignty of the governments
to take appropriate measures to get around to the issues. A lot depends upon
the countries now how they live up to the expectations of the poor patients.
The declaration also recognizes the problems of countries with insufficient
or no pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity and also the limitation of the
compulsory license as solution to these problems. We hope General Counsel
come up with a clear solution to this issue next year. Our challenge now is
to get this declaration translated into action, which can save lives."
-- Zafar Mirza, Health Action International and The Network for Consumer Protection
in Pakistan.
"The Doha declaration on TRIPS is the strongest and most important international statement yet on the need to refashion national patent laws to protect public health interests. It is a road map for using the flexibility of the TRIPS to protect the public health, and sets a standard to measure any new bilateral or regional trade agreement. The declaration is a political statement that did not modify in any way the TRIPS agreement, and the decision to settle for a political statement was controversial in the negotiations. The developing countries had asked for legally binding interpretations of the agreement, including a solution to the single most obvious problem with the TRIPS, the Article 31.f limitations on exports of medicines manufactured under a compulsory license."
"We were disappointed the European and American negotiators blocked
agreement to use Article 30 of the TRIPS to export medicines to countries
that do not have domestic capacity for manufacturing, but pleased this issue
will be examined by the TRIPS council in 2002. The negotiation over the export
of medicines provisions in the TRIPS will be the next battleground in term
of trade policy."
-- James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
"Since Seattle there has been a seismic shift. Two years ago many developing
countries felt they were powerless against the will of the wealthy countries
and their drug companies. Here in Doha more than 80 countries came together
and negotiated in mass. It was this solidarity that led to a strong affirmation
that TRIPS "can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner
.to protect public health." In practical terms it means that countries
are not at the mercy of multinationals when they practice price gouging. The
threat of punitive action against a country that attempts to address its health
needs has been dramatically reduced. With this declaration it is doubtful
that a wealthy country would dare file a dispute against a developing country
or using one of the safeguards such as compulsory licensing. Now patent holders
either offer prices that make their drugs accessible or risk losing their
monopoly rights. The victory in Doha is really for people who need or will
need access to life-saving or extending medicines."
-- Daniel Berman, MSF
"Like at the Health Ministerial in May 2001, The EC and the EU again
fell into this apparently spontaneous good cop/bad cop mode, with the US opposing
everything and the EU claiming to have no position of its own on the issues
and to only want to help the opposed parties find a middle ground, while in
truth intensively watering down the developing countries' proposals. Then
the political need to come back from Doha with some semblance of success made
the Brazilian delegates cave in to the rich countries' position and agree
to forget legally binding wording as well as clarification of exports for
generic versions of patented drugs. India and the Africa group resisted a
bit, but were not imparted with enough political commitment to the issue to
make this
a deal-breaker. The Africa group representative, and the African delegates,
did not realize the role and value of press work for negotiation purposes,
both in terms of contradicting rich countries' propaganda and of holding North
public opinions ransom for North government's predictable efforts to renege
on the spirit and/or letter of the Doha Declaration. They waited until the
last day to talk to the press, instead of crying foul at the first immoral
positions insisted upon by developing countries. The chairman of the Africa
Group did not answer when asked in press conference whether it should be expected
that the hard-won right to effectively use compulsory licensing provisions
would be exercised by African countries in the short term, in the context
of the health crises currently obtaining on the continent, and after the US
and Pharma had told the press in the morning that the Declaration didn't mean
anything in the sense that it was purely political, and that it did not really
say anything about how WTO would react should patents broken. Where relations
with the media is concerned, developing countries seem to show surprising
naiveness about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry over richest
country governments and their duplicity with regard to international agreements.
They should be briefed about negotiation techniques and the role of the press
therein."
-- Khalil, Elouardighi, Paris Act Up!
"This declaration is a major step forwards in the quest to ensure access
to medicines for all. The text that has been agreed upon now was unthinkable
6 months, 6 weeks, even 6 days ago. It states clearly that there are serious
conflicts between the obligations under the TRIPS Agreement and countries
need to protect public health including providing access to medicines, it
states that countries have the right to take measures to overcome patent barriers
to public health and the statement outlines clearly how countries can do this.
It is a missed opportunity that this ministerial conference did not offer
a solution for countries without production capacity that want to make use
of compulsory licensing . But we are confident that this issue will be resolved
in the next year in the TRIPS Council. Countries can ensure access to medicines
without fear of being dragged into a legal battle. Now its up to governments
to use this power to bring down the cost of medicines and increase access
to life-saving treatments."
-- Ellen 't Hoen, Medecins Sans Frontieres
"Developing countries came to Doha to extract a clear declaration that
public health and access to medicines are more important than protecting the
commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies. At the end of the day, opposition
from rich countries crippled the legally binding language sought by the majority
of WTO countries."
-- Asia Russell, Health Gap Coalition and Act Up Philly
"Wealthy countries and drug companies refuse to compromise patent monopolies
in poor countries that have no domestic capacity. The declaration does nothing
to remedy this barrier. The majority of people with AIDS and other treatable
diseases live in these countries, so a solution is critical. The Ministerial
Declaration merely acknowledges the problem of exporting drugs to poor countries-rich
countries stood in the way of taking the actions that are desperately needed."
-- Gaelle Krikorian, ACT UP Paris
"Countries levying formal or informal pressure on poor countries that
are taking strides to increase drug access should face condemnation from WTO
members, because such pressure violates the spirit and terms of this agreement.
Doha did not end the battle over poor country access to drugs," Lynch
continued. "Against the pressure of rich countries and drug companies,
the fight must continue to complete the unfinished work of this Ministerial-millions
of lives are at stake. We demand that the WTO clarify during the first meeting
of the TRIPS Council that nothing in the TRIPS Agreement should stand in the
way of countries exporting cheap drugs to poor countries."
-- Sharoann Lynch, Health Gap and Act Up NYC
"The Doha declaration on TRIPS is a big step to Access to drugs for
poor countries. Now all African consumers are waiting to its real application
by our governments not only in term of access to HIV drugs but in order to
let their people have access to the others drugs chiefly those which will
be discovered...The struggle for LIFE and Justice continues."
-- Jacques Arbi Akerekoro, Arambe / Kafu-Ata- Benin
"Doha is a big step forward in the battle for affordable medicines.
The huge profile given to the issue changes the political climate, building
on the victories in the South Africa and Brazil cases. It will now be much
harder for the US and the drug companies to bully poor countries over their
patent policies. We would have liked to see a stronger declaration but there
is a clear political statement that the agreement must be implemented in a
way that promotes access to medicines. The next step is to ensure that next
year's scheduled review of the TRIPS agreement takes a hard look at the length
and scope of pharmaceutical patents in developing countries, which remains
the heart of the problem."
-- Michael Bailey OXFAM