Bill C-393 in the Senate: Amendments to the Patent Act (March 2011)

Bill C-393 passed with a large majority of votes in the House of Commons in Parliament on March 9, 2011 and is now before the Senate of Canada. Bill C-393 would make a number of changes to the sections of the Patent Act that currently constitute Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR). The text below … Read more

Joint Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review Working Group of the Human Rights Council, 12th Session re: human rights violations associated with Thailand’s anti-drug laws

Human rights violations committed in the name of drug control are common in Thailand, including the unlawful application of the death penalty and the denial of the highest attainable standard of health and numerous concerns with respect to compulsory treatment. Capital punishment is regularly imposed on people convicted of drug-related offences and the government has … Read more

Bill C-393: Key features and compliance with Canada’s WTO obligations (March 2011)

It has been incorrectly suggested that Bill C-393’s “one-licence solution” does not comply with Canada’s WTO obligations. Complementing the Legal Network’s earlier brief, this document outlines in summary form the key issues and the provisions of WTO law that permit Canada to simplify the current CAMR as proposed by Bill C-393, while complying with its … Read more

NGO letter to Prime Minister of Thailand re: forced drug dependence ‘treatment’

“We write to express our grave concern at reports of the Thai government’s plans to round up and ‘treat’ 30,000 people who use drugs from 20-27 February…. We ask that the Government urgently clarify this strategy…. In particular: what is legal basis for any such detention en masse? What assessment of drug dependence will be … Read more

Letter to Trade Ministers re: Safeguarding Access to Medicines in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

“We, the undersigned civil society organizations, write to you regarding intellectual property provisions in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). We are concerned that intellectual property measures that may be included in an eventual agreement could undermine patients’ access to vital medicines, and contravene promises of a new trade model and ’21st century’ agreement.”