AEGiS-BKREV: TRIPS and Rights: International Human Rights Law, Access to Medicines, and the Interpretation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right

TRIPS and Rights: International Human Rights Law, Access to Medicines, and the Interpretation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, rue Saint-Pierre, ste. 408, Montreal, Quebec H2Y 2M4. 80p. electronic at http://www.aidslaw.ca/Maincontent/issues/cts/TRIPS-brief.htm.

This document is available in English and French at the above URL. The paper sets out the basis, in international law, for the following conclusions: 1. States' binding legal obligations to realize human rights have primacy in international law; 2. therefore, the TRIPS Agreement must be interpreted in a fashion consistent with States' superseding obligations under international law to respect, protect and fulfill human rights; and 3. where this is not possible, States' obligations under the TRIPS Agreement must be recognized as not binding to the extent there is a conflict with their human rights obligations under international law.

Keywords: Legal Aspects; Human Rights; Medical Access
020130
BK021110

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