A/HRC/23/54
was suggested that development cooperation should be based on equal partnership and the
global partnership for development should be reformulated as an “international solidarity”
goal. Finally, it was recommended that specialists in different areas, including economists
and lawyers, should address social impacts and human rights aspects of economic decisions
by working together.
53.
In concluding remarks, Hans-Peter Werner referred to the flexibilities of the
Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights as one means of
ensuring access to essential medicines. He also clarified that the WTO did not monitor
bilateral agreements for which States had the primary responsibility. However, the trade
policy review mechanism did allow member States to question a State’s actions or inactions
regarding human rights issues. Cécile Molinier underlined the narrow scope of the current
Goal 8 indicators related to trade, debt, access to medicine and transfer of technology and
called for the post-2015 framework to promote human rights, equality and sustainability.
She observed that significant progress has been made regarding human rights
mainstreaming at the country level, where the United Nations continued to improve interagency collaboration and promote ownership. Ali Jazairy emphasized the role of WIPO in
facilitating technology transfer through different research platforms. He indicated that
WIPO had a programme on reducing patent-related fees for least developed countries, and
that many intellectual property rights in the domain of technology relevant to climate
change had expired. WIPO was also working on a mechanism to protect traditional
medicine and on a definition of technology transfer that incorporated the transfer of
relevant technical expertise. Stephen Pursey emphasized the importance of the social
protection floor, particularly with regards to the half of the global workforce that was
informally employed. According to him, guaranteeing the four critical components of the
social protection floor – an old age and disability pension; access to basic health care;
support for children’s nutrition, education and health; and support for the unemployed –
would only cost 2–4 per cent of gross domestic product and would have far-reaching
economic and social benefits. Sarah Cook called for a new approach to development
founded in solidarity.
I.
Promoting sustainable development in the era of globalization
54.
Angelica Navarro, Permanent Representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to
the United Nations Office in Geneva, stated that global crises resulted from capitalist,
materialist thinking and called for a paradigm shift in development approaches. She
highlighted the concept of vivir bien (“living well”) as an alternative to the capitalist
paradigm of “living better”. The latter concept implied self-interested improvement through
the exploitation of Mother Earth and regardless of the cost to others. This approach failed to
benefit the majority of people. Living well meant living in harmony with the cycles of
Mother Earth, the cycles of history and all forms of life. It required listening and sharing.
This holistic approach to living appeared in all indigenous languages and cultures. It
included principles such as collective work, reciprocity, solidarity, respect, dignity, social
justice and harmony. The Permanent Representative argued that by incorporating this
traditional approach to development within its official policies and embracing legal
pluralism, the Plurinational State of Bolivia had achieved great development successes. To
illustrate this, she presented statistical data which highlighted poverty reduction, increased
economic growth and improved education outcomes in her country.
55.
Stephen Hale, Deputy and Advocacy Campaigns Director at Oxfam International,
described the difficult context for global development efforts including the negative
impacts of the economic crisis, the inequitable distribution of power and weaknesses in the
multilateral system that make it difficult to seek global solutions to global problems. He
highlighted the need to promote coherence and build alliances for change. Humanity
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