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3D ->
THREE
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15 rue des Savoises
1205 Genève
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info@3dthree.org
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| 3D news |
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Save the date! 3D panels at upcoming WTO Public Forum
In The right to development – a tool to boost coherence between trade, development and human rights? on 15 September from 2-4 pm, the EU´s Dr. Joëlle Hivonnet, Head of the UN Section, a representative from a Southern government, Professor Dr. Nicolaas Schrijver from Leiden University and Vicente Yu from the South Centre will discuss whether the right to development can add value to the multilateral trading system. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is co-hosting the panel.
On 17 September from 9-11 am, Eduardo Muñoz Gómez, Ambassador of Colombia to the WTO; John Clarke, Chargé d´Affaires a.i. of the European Union; CUTS Secretary General Pradeep S Mehta and Claudia Hofmann from the University of Kassel will debate whether including social standards and human rights clauses in trade agreements are likely or not to help achieve more coherence in the international trading system. The panel Social standards and human rights clauses in trade agreements: window dressing, hidden protectionism or furthering the cause? is organized jointly with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Download the abstract of the session
Participation to both events is free and open to all registered participants. Click here to find out more about the WTO Public Forum and to register before 9 September 2010.
New publication: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): A new obstacle to human rights?
This paper shows how the negotiations of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement or ACTA have become the emblem of the maximum protection approach of intellectual property rights (IPR), reversing the public interest approach that underpinned IPR originally. It argues that if such a vision is realized, through ambiguous rhetoric and aggressive negotiating strategies, it could lead to a new international institutional framework that will hinder the realization of human rights.
Read publication
3D granted ECOSOC special consultative status: After a two-year long application process, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has granted special consultative status to 3D at its substantive session of July 2010. This status will newly allow 3D to place items on the agendas of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, in particular the Human Rights Council, and to attend meetings where it may submit written statements and make oral presentations to governments.
Experts review methodologies for human rights impact assessments (HRIA) of trade and investment agreements: The seminar, which took place on 23 and 24 June 2010 at the South Centre in Geneva, brought together 40 experts from international and national civil society organizations, academia and various UN bodies. The participants discussed the current stage of methodological approaches and lessons learnt with past HRIA in the fields of trade and investment agreements, with a view to define a set of basic principles to conduct future assessments. In different workshops, the experts shared their views and experiences on the use of trade and investment related standards and indicators with regard to the right to food, work, health and water and key methodologies to address specific provisions in trade agreements. The organizers of the seminar were 3D, South Centre, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berne Declaration, CCIC, Misereor, Brot für die Welt and FIAN.
Read James Harrison´s backgrounder on HRIA of trade agreements
The report of the seminar will be soon available here.
3D testifies at European Parliament hearing on ´Property rights, property ownership and land grab in developing countries´: On 2 June 2010, 3D was invited to present the human rights aspects of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries at a public hearing organized by the Committee on Development of the European Parliament. The hearing served as an opportunity to inform parliamentarians, raise awareness and exchange views on these critical issues for developing countries.
View 3D´s presentation
Read 3D´s statement
View other experts´ presentations
Responsible investment in agriculture discussed at UNCTAD Public Symposium: 3D and the International Institute on Sustainable Development (IISD) organized a breakout session titled "Responsible Investment in Agriculture: sustainable and people-centered approaches" at the UNCTAD Public Symposium on 11 May 2010. The session addressed the concerns about the impact of large-scale and long-term leases of arable land, the risks and opportunities of foreign investment in agriculture for small-scale farmers and how a human rights approach could contribute to achieve more sustainable and people-centered investment policies.
Read 3D´s summary of the session
Read the presentation of 3D advisory board member and IISD advisor Carin Smaller on how to improve foreign investment in agriculture
3D highlights (non) progress on cotton at UNCTAD Public Symposium:
On 10 May 2010, a breakout session led by the South Centre, the Third World Network and 3D at the UNCTAD Public Symposium looked at the question "Is There Development in Trade Agreements? A Look at the Doha Development Agenda and Free Trade Agreements". The panel concluded that it was difficult to find development in the Doha Development Round. Recommendations made by participants may realize the rather modest demand for a ‘fair treatment in line with the mandate’.
Read the South Centre´s summary of the session
View the PowerPoint presentation of 3D on cotton
Read the presentation of 3D on cotton
New publication: Exploring the Global Food Supply Chain. Markets, Companies, Systems
What is the level of market concentration in the global agrifood industry? How are countries around the globe responding to the homogeneisation of plant variety protection brought about by the TRIPS agreement? This companion publication to 3D´s Backgrounder Seeds of Hunger intends to tackle these questions by providing figures and information about market concentration in the seed and food markets, and the intellectual property rules accompanying it, at the global and country level.
Read the publication
New publication: How Human Rights Can Inform the WIPO Development Agenda
The Development Agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) represents a major window of opportunity to put in place intellectual property rules that are conducive to realizing the right to development. 3D presents this policy brief at the outset of the 5th session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), convening from 26 to 30 April 2010. The policy brief advocates for the adoption of a human rights-based approach in the implementation and the follow-up of the Development Agenda.
Read the policy brief
Read 3D´s statement at the CDIP 5
Link access to knowledge and human rights strategically: 3D actively participated in the fourth Access to Knowledge Conference (A2K4) – Access to knowledge and human rights, hosted by the Information Society Project at the Yale University Law School (USA) from 11 to 13 February 2010. The conference sought to lay the conceptual and strategic groundwork to build bridges between the A2K and human rights communities. The participants examined the ways in which intellectual property, Internet governance, technological regulation and innovation systems impact human rights; how rights-based methodologies, arguments and institutions could advance A2K goals as well as the opportunities, challenges and risks of a more intensive collaboration between the human rights and A2K communities. Videos and blog post summaries of all plenary panels and workshops are now available online.
Read Violette Ruppanner’s contribution to the Workshop “The Right to Development: Bridging the Gap between Human Rights & IP?”
Download the introduction to the closing panel on “Rights-Based Strategies for Advancing Access to Knowledge”
Watch the closing panel and read the blog summary
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