AFTINET endorses letter from 300 civil society organisations to South African and Indian leaders on COVID medicine monopolies
14 April, 2022: AFTINET has added its voice to an open letter addressed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The letter, signed by more than 300 civil society organisations from across the globe, urges the leaders to reject the “unequal and inadequate” proposal on COVID19 medicine monopolies that has been leaked by the European Union (EU), and to stand firm on the original waiver proposal to the World Trade Organisation from India and South Africa.
The letter argues that the leaked proposal omits several important features originally put forward by India and South Africa. The proposal limits the agreement to only vaccines (excluding tests and treatments), and covers only patents (instead of all forms of intellectual property such as trade secrets). All in all, the letter concludes, there are too many limitations in the agreement to make any significant difference.
The letter calls on India and South Africa to “stand firm at this critical moment, to say no, and to reject this inadequate proposal.”
“Without significant changes to the text, we will continue to see preventable deaths from COVID-19 and the global south will remain unprepared for the next major health crisis”
Other signatories to the letter include Oxfam, Amnesty International, Global Call to Action Against Poverty, African Alliance, All India Drug Action Network, and the Third World Network.