Sisule F. Musungu – On Sunday, 29th November 2009 the Swiss voted to ban minarets next to mosques! It is difficult to find any words to describe this. Happening the day before the start of the 7th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, which hosts the WTO and tens of international organisations and UN organs, including the UN Human Rights Council, the implications are significant. As a student of human rights, I find no other categorisation that the ban consists of not only extreme religious intolerance but also, and quite importantly, an extreme level of racial intolerance.
Archive for November, 2009
The Shame of the Swiss Minarets Ban!
Monday, November 30th, 2009IQsensato at the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference
Monday, November 30th, 2009Sisule F. Musungu – IQsensato has been accredited to, and will be participating in the Seventh World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference which takes place the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG) from 30th November 2009 to 2 December 2009. As part of our participation, IQsensato is organising/co-organising two key side events at the main NGO Centre during the Ministerial in addition to blogging on the Ideas in Development Blog. Both events are open to all accredited delegates (government, international organisations, NGOs) to the Ministerial conference.
The WIPO Developing Agenda – Some Thoughts on Coordination Mechanisms, Monitoring, Assessing and Reporting Modalities
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Susan Isiko Štrba – On the third day of its Fourth Session, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) embarked on the discussion on coordination mechanisms and monitoring, assessment and reporting modalities on the implementation of recommendations of the Development Agenda (DA). The discussion, which is a continued from the Third Session of the CDIP, is based on two proposals presented by Algeria, Brazil and Pakistan on the one hand and the Group B on the other.
The WIPO Development Agenda – Essential Elements of a Monitoring, Assessment & Coordination Mechanism
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Sisule F. Musungu – The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) has a mandate for monitoring, assessing and coordinating the implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda. How this mandate is discharged, will determine whether the Development Agenda leads to the transformation of how intellectual property (IP) systems are governed and managed at both the multilateral as well as at the national levels.
IQsensato’s Statement to the Fourth Session of the WIPO Committee on Development & IP
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009Sisule F. Musungu – On Monday, 16th November 2009 IQsensato made a statement to the Fourth Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP). This statement was read by Poku Adusei of the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) Project which is a collaborating partner of IQsensato.
