Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Parliament of Canada and members of the Standing Committee on International Trade, thank you for inviting Amnistie internationale Canada francophone to the hearings into Canada's position the proposed waiver from the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, the TRIPS, which was submitted to the World Trade Organization, the WTO.
As an organization that defends and promotes human rights, Amnesty International became involved from the first moments of the pandemic in order to call for unfailing international solidarity by all states, especially the richest ones. For Amnistie internationale Canada francophone, this includes Canada. We therefore call on Canada to support, firmly and without further delay, the revised proposal for a waiver submitted to the WTO on May 21, 2021.
In October 2020, seven months ago now, India and South Africa called for a temporary waiver to the WTO's TRIPS Agreement until the majority of the world's population is immune. Although 60 countries are co-sponsoring the proposal for a waiver and more than 100 of the WTO's 164 member states are in favour, a certain number of prosperous states are still opposed to it, while others, like Canada, remain neutral. Canada claims that it is not causing an obstruction but simply asking questions.
Nevertheless, although time is an issue, the result of Canada's position is that agreement on the waiver is blocked. The waiver would temporarily suspend the implementation, application and enforcement of certain intellectual property rights, such as patents on pharmaceutical products. It would help to guarantee that pandemic-related medical products, including safe and effective vaccines, can be quickly manufactured by a larger number of suppliers and made available to all at an affordable price.
By supporting the removal of intellectual property protection for vaccines against COVID-19, Canada would be placing the lives of people around the world ahead of the profits of a few pharmaceutical giants and their shareholders. The only way to end the pandemic is to end it globally. The only way to end it globally is to put people before profits, which can only be done by making knowledge and technology available to all.
The international standards of human rights to which Canada subscribes and the regulations governing international trade clearly stipulate that the protection of intellectual property must never come at the expense of public health.
COVID-19 is not only a health and economic crisis, it is also a human rights crisis. It cannot be overcome without true commitment to one of the sustainable development goals: to leave no one behind. Starting from the principle that no one will be safe unless everyone is safe, Canada today has the opportunity to make a decision that would make that goal a reality.
Since the pandemic began, there has been an overwhelming global consensus on the urgent need for all countries to work together so that everyone, everywhere, is protected. The United Nations General Assembly has, on several occasions, stressed the need for intensified international cooperation and multilateral efforts to contain, mitigate and defeat the pandemic. The World Health Assembly has recognized the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 as a global public good in preventing, containing and stopping transmission in order to bring the pandemic to an end.
Under international human rights law, states also have the obligation to provide the financial and technical support necessary to uphold the right to health, especially in the face of the international spread of a disease. Yet companies in the pharmaceutical industry around the world continue to pursue a business-as-usual approach, which places limits on manufacturing and supply capacities.
Canada has suggested that intellectual property is not an obstacle as far as pharmaceutical products and technologies against COVID-19 are concerned. This ignores the hard evidence that restrictive licensing practices have already caused a shortage of supply in several countries.
On May 5, the United States declared its support for the waiver, at least in terms of vaccines, and the European Parliament declared its openness to the initiative on May 20. Amnesty International repeats its clear demand to the Government of Canada—