Over two decades of negotiations have climaxed in the birth of a new treaty in the early hours of May 24, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland at the WIPO 2024 Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge.
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The WIPO Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources (GRs) and Associated Traditional Knowledge (ATK) is now on its second week (since May 13, 2024). We are pleased to provide an update in continuation of our first report.
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The first two days of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge kicked off on a generally positive note.
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As experts and top diplomats count down to the WIPO Diplomatic Conference in Geneva, Switzerland (May 13-24, 2024) in a final push to birth a treaty on Genetic Resources (GRs) and Associated Traditional Knowledge (ATK), we at Access and Benefit Sharing Canada reflect on the anticipated outcome of the historic meeting, tampering expectations and offering some clarification.
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With the WIPO Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge approaching, the National Congress of American Indians is prepared to advance its position so that Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests are included in the final stages of negotiations.
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Reflections on the host country for the WIPO 2024 Diplomatic Conference on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources.
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Between February 27 and March 3, 2023, delegates and experts are reconvening in Geneva for the 46th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC 46). The IGC 46 is the penultimate of four sessions exclusively dedicated to “undertake[ing] negotiations on TK and/or TCEs with a focus on addressing unresolved and cross-cutting issues and considering options for a draft legal instrument(s)”. Earlier negotiations on the TK/TCEs text were undertaken pursuant to IGC 44 and 45, and will be further explored finally in the 2022-2023 biennium at the IGC 47 slated for June/July 2023. IGC 47 will also include stocktaking and making recommendations on the subject of TK/TCEs for the 64th WIPO General Assembly in October 2023.
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Buoyed by the July 2022 WIPO 62nd General Assembly decision that endorsed a Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources (GR) and Associated Traditional Knowledge, delegates to the 45th Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) continued negotiations on the TK and TCEs texts. On December 5-9, 2022, negotiations on the two subject matters continued from the September 12-16, 2022 44th IGC. It is second of the series of negotiations to focus on TK/TCEs. At the 44th IGC, delegates took unofficial notice of the new Chair’s, Ms. Lillyclair Bellamy (Jamaica), determination to take a cue from the immediate past Chair, Ian Goss (Australia) to generate a Chair’s TK/TCE text to advance progress on TK/TCE negotiations. This decision, which did not come as surprise to delegates, has potential to replicate Goss’ experience of the Chair’s GR text based on which the 2024 Diplomatic Conference is being convened.
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May 30-June 3, 2022: Delegates met in-person and virtually at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva to resume the second round of negotiations for the 2022-23 biennium of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (WIPO-IGC). The meeting being the second in the ‘post-pandemic’ era was dedicated to negotiations on genetic resources. It was the last meeting on the subject under the 2022-2023 biennium. The remaining meetings of the Committee for the biennium are dedicated to Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions (aka folklore).
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Indigenous peoples all over the world have adverse relationships with research and researchers. Historically, research involving Indigenous peoples is conducted at the intersection of colonialism and asymmetrical power relations amongst researchers, industries, colonial states, and other stakeholders. The importance of research in shaping the policy agenda for development, access to health, basic infrastructure and for the empowerment of communities for self-determination is not lost on Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples and many other local and marginalized communities have been proverbial guinea pigs for researchers, being ‘used’ as research subjects whose rights were abused without consequences. Regarded as docile subjects, their voices were hardly heard, making them one of the most researched and yet underrepresented demographics in research.
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February 28-March 4, 2020: Delegates met virtually and in-person at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva to resume the first round of negotiations for the 2022-23 biennium of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). The meeting was in continuation of more than two-decades of work, most of which has been dedicated to negotiations of legal instrument(s) for the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) and genetic resources (GR).
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