Martin Khor

Starting from the premise that democracy is more than simply a matter of universal suffrage and the holding of regular multiparty elections, and that development is about much more than growth of GDP, this Report focuses on how to make democracy work for pro-poor development and on development policies that in themselves uphold and promote democratic values. It argues that development and democracy are not only goals in their own right but must also be mutually reinforcing. Pro-poor development recognises that people need the ‘capabilities' to do and be the things that they have reason to value, such as being adequately nourished, having equitable access to justice and participating in decisions that affect their lives. It also recognises that development policies aimed at the general populace may have a more limited positive impact on particularly disadvantaged groups. Such groups need to be identified (for example, in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, age or occupation) and policies need to be specifically designed for improving the lives of the poor. The Report argues that governments, the private sector, civil society and the international community each have a vital role to play in delivering development and democracy, and calls for responsibility, partnership and concrete actions from all these actors. Without responsibility on all these levels, development and democracy will remain rhetoric rather than become reality. Prepared by the Commonwealth Expert Group on Development and Democracy at the request of Commonwealth Heads of Government, the Report contains a number of recommendations for action at the national and international levels. It will be of interest to policy-makers, multilateral and bilateral agencies, the private sector, civil society organisations and all those committed to development, democracy and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

The impact of intellectual property rights on the rights of local communities, consumers and the environment has become a major source of controversy. This is especially so after the TRIPS Agreement in the World Trade Organisation facilitated the worldwide patenting of life forms and biological materials, which has given rise to public concerns over the environment, food security, farmers' livelihoods and the rights of indigenous peoples over their knowledge and resources. At the heart of the debate is the increasing misappropriation of traditional knowledge by corporations that are now patenting human genes, plants and other biological materials, many of which exist in nature or have been used for generations by farmers and indigenous peoples. In this book, Martin Khor examines the "biopiracy" phenomenon, its links to the TRIPS Agreement, and its various effects. In particular, he deals with these questions: · What are the implications of TRIPS for traditional knowledge and the rights of local communities? · What tensions exist between the approaches and provisions of TRIPS and the Convention on Biological Diversity? · Should life forms be granted the status of intellectual property, and has TRIPS made patentability of biological materials mandatory? · Will TRIPS endanger the transfer of technologies required by developing countries for their sustainable development? · What are the options for resolving these problems and what is the way forward for each issue? This book provides a useful summary and analysis of the key aspects in this complex and controversial subject, and just as importantly, it describes the processes and debates now taking place in the WTO and other fora, and gives suggestions on how to move ahead on the various issues.