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Covid-19 patent waivers are urgent to avoid further catastrophe

Covid-19 patent waivers are urgent to avoid further catastrophe

Covid-19 patent waivers are urgent to avoid further catastrophe | GI-ESCR signs inter-American joint statement

 

GI-ESCR is amongst the 92 Latin American and global civil society organisations co-signing a statement that calls for the temporary suspension of patents on products for the treatment and prevention of Covid-19.

Share and spread this call with the hashtags:

#NoCovidMonopolies | #LiberenLasPatentes | #LiberemAsPatentes

THE statement

A global response that recognizes vaccines as a common good of humanity is urgent. The temporary suspension of patents is a mandatory step to massively produce the supplies necessary to face the pandemic in the world and guarantee the right to health and life in all countries.

The remedies, supplies and vaccines for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 exist and are inaccessible to the vast majority of the world’s population. The greed of a small group of countries and the business lobby prevent the production of medicine and vaccines from democratizing. This sought and sustained concentration and the opacity surrounding production costs and pricing criteria are prolonging the pandemic and deepening the social and economic crisis in Latin America and the world.

Next Thursday, representatives of the member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will meet to discuss the suspension of intellectual property rights of products for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. More than 100 WTO member countries and hundreds of civil society organizations accompany the initiative of India and South Africa, calling for the suspension of some rules on intellectual property for vaccines, drugs and medical technologies in order to face the pandemic.

Despite the repeated recommendations of international human rights mechanisms and the WHO itself, a handful of rich countries and companies continue to block the deconcentration of production. The United States, Switzerland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, members of the European Union repeat the arguments of the pharmaceutical industry: they allege that the laws of the market are sufficient to sort out the distribution of vaccines.

Today we see that under these rules, almost half of the more than 200 million vaccines already administered in the world were applied in the seven richest countries, where 10% of the planet’s population lives. By competing for doses sold at market price, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative has had nearly no impact.

The pandemic has already caused more than 800,000 deaths in Latin America and is radically widening social gaps in the region. It is estimated that 33.7% of the population or 209 million people now live under the poverty line. Extreme poverty rates are at their highest in the last 20 years and hunger and malnutrition are increasing. The only way to begin to reverse this scenario is mass immunization of the population. However, beyond the level of success of government efforts, vaccines are not arriving at the necessary speed.

The economic logic that has been imposed on the right to health puts us before a new global division between immunized and not immunized countries, due to unequal access to vaccines and a fake scarcity that a patent release could revert.

 

Signatories

Argentina

  1. Agenda de las Mujeres

  2. ALC Noticias

  3. AMMAR- Sindicato de Trabajadorxs Sexuales de Argentina

  4. Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos – APDH

  5. Asociación Argentina de Educadoras/es Sexuales

  6. Asociación Civil CineMigrante

  7. Asociación Civil Colectiva Feminista La Revuelta

  8. Asociación Civil s/f.l. La Grieta

  9. Asociación Metropolitana de Equipos de Salud

  10. Asociación Yanapacuns

  11. Bloque de Trabajadorxs Migrantes

  12. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales – CELS

  13. Ciudad Futura

  14. Comisión Memoria Verdad y Justicia Zona Norte

  15. Coordinadora de Abogadxs de Interés Público (CAIP)

  16. CTAA Capital Regional Norte

  17. CUESEB – Centro de estudios de salud, economía y bienestar Universidad Nacional del Comahue

  18. Equifem Equipo de investigación feminista

  19. Fondo de Ayuda Toxicológica

  20. Frente Popular Darío Santillán

  21. Fundación El Gran Vidrio

  22. Fundación Empoderada

  23. Fundación Igualdad

  24. Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables (Fundeps)

  25. Ges Asociación Civil

  26. Grupo Matamba-lbtiq

  27. Instituto de Física de Rosario (IFIR)

  28. Instituto de Políticas Públicas LGBT+

  29. LatFem periodismo feminista

  30. Mariposas naranjas

  31. Memoria Abierta

  32. MNCI Somos Tierra

  33. Museo de la Memoria de Rosario

  34. Ni Una Menos

  35. Núcleo de Estudios Migratorios, IDAES, Universidad Nacional de San Martín

  36. OMEP – Organización Mundial para la Educación Preescolar

  37. Organizaciones Libres del Pueblo – Resistir y luchar

  38. Proyectarg

  39. Red Argentina para el Desarme

  40. Red Nacional de Migrantes y Refugiadxs en Argentina

  41. Revista Furias

  42. Secretaria de Salud de la Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos

  43. Servicio Habitacional y de Acción Social

Bolivia

  1. Asociación de familiares de detenidos desaparecidos y mártires por la liberación nacional – ASOFAMD

  2. Centro de Estudios y Apoyo al Desarrollo Local

  3. Centro de Gestión Cultural Pukañawi

  4. CIES Salud Sexual Salud Reproductiva

  5. Instituto de Terapia e Investigación sobre las Secuelas de la Tortura y la Violencia de Estado (ITEI)

  6. Organización No Gubernamental de Desarrollo Integral MUSUQ ÑAN

Brazil

  1. Articulação Pacari Raizeiras do Cerrado

  2. Artigo 19

  3. Centro de Direitos Humanos e Cidadania do Imigrante (CDHIC)

  4. Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi

  5. Fórum Justiça

  6. Instituto Marielle Franco

  7. Laboratório de Direitos Humanos da UFRJ

  8. Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos – MNDH Brasil

  9. MTST – Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto

  10. Núcleo de Preservação da Memória Política

  11. Terra de Direitos

Chile

  1. Fondo Alquimia

  2. Fundación 1367 Casa Memoria José Domingo Cañas

  3. Observatorio Ciudadano

  4. Observatorio de Equidad de Género en Salud, OEGS

  5. Observatorio de Género y Equidad

Colombia

  1. Colectivo de Abogados “José Alvear Restrepo” – CAJAR

  2. Dejusticia

Ecuador

  1. COCASEN Coalición Contra el Abuso Sexual

  2. FUNDACIÓN ACCIÓN SOCIAL INTEGRAL MULTISECTORIAL (FASIM)

  3. Misión Scalabriniana

  4. Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados Ecuador

  5. Surkuna

Honduras

  1. Centro de Derechos de Mujeres

  2. Comité de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH)

Mexico

  1. FIAN México

  2. Global Initiave for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

  3. Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos

  4. Poiesis, SC.

  5. ProDESC (Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales)

Paraguay

  1. CONAMURI

  2. DECIDAMOS, Campaña por la Expresion Ciudadana

  3. Organización de Mujeres Campesinas e Indígenas CONAMURI

  4. SERPAJ-PY (Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay)

Peru

  1. Asociación Centro Loyola Ayacucho

  2. INPPARES

USA

  1. Guías de Salud Hesperian

  2. Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA)

  3. University Network for Human Rights

Venezuela

  1. SURES

Regional

  1. RedTraSex LAC (Red de mujeres trabajadoras sexuales de Latinoamérica y El Caribe)

International

  1. Global Initative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

  2. Sexual Rights Initiative

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.