QUNO Geneva's newsletter for February to June 2010. Featured stories:

• Armed Violence & the Millennium Development Goals
• UPOV, Intellectual Property & Food
• Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference Concludes on Positive Note
• New UN Ruling on Conscientious Objection to Military Service
• Update from QUNO New York
• Vacancy Announcement: QUNO Geneva Director

In 2005 the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) extended the transition period for Least-developed countries (LDCs) to implement the TRIPS Agreement, until 2013. This paper draws attention to technical assistance issues arising out of the extension decision, and suggests ideas on how to think about what assistance may be required, and how priority assessments may be done.

QUNO - Occasional Paper 16

This paper examines some issues that may influence the establishment of an internationally binding disclosure of origin obligation, and suggests possible strategies to achieve the developing countries’ objective. To this end, it addresses a number of political and practical questions that seem relevant.

Part One of the paper explains how the priority of achieving minimum standards of protection and enforcement of existing IPRs has been superseded by that of global IP harmonisation for patents and what may be referred to as dynamic responsiveness for copyright. It also identifies the strategies being adopted to accelerate and deepen these processes. Part Two aims to demonstrate that this is very important and raises very high economic stakes.