This proposal aims to reframe knowledge in health, renewable energy, data infrastructure and other essential sectors as a global public good and shift innovation incentives from private profit toward collective well‑being. The current global intellectual property system, as embodied in the WTO TRIPS Agreement, serves the commercial interests of multinational corporations and high-income economies, imposes a “one-size-fits-all” model that creates significant human costs by inflating the price of essential medicines, restricting the rights of farmers to save seeds, and limiting access to affordable learning materials. These outcomes undermine the binding obligations of states under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to realize the rights to food (Art. 11), health (Art. 12), education (Art. 13), and science and culture (Art. 15). This policy proposes a human rights approach to intellectual property (IP) law, ensuring that the design, implementation, interpretation, and enforcement of IP rights do not impede human rights but affirmatively protect the substantive freedoms and capabilities of all individuals. The core of this proposal is the normative reframing of TRIPS flexibilities, from optional trade tools into mandatory human rights obligations.
To operationalize this principle, the policy proposes the implementation of the following key instruments: (i) independent national Intellectual Property Review Boards tasked with assessing patent applications and other IP rights against human rights criteria and making pre-emptive public interest designations in sectors like health, food security, and education; (ii) the streamlined operationalization of flexibilities to ensure the highest attainable standard of health, access to learning materials, and freedom from hunger; and (iii) the embedding of human rights safeguards and model clauses in trade and investment agreements to protect the regulatory space of states and prohibit trade retaliation against countries implementing IP measures aimed at fulfilling their human rights duties. The policy further requires national courts to incorporate a human rights approach when resolving disputes involving IP rights. These proposals are based on examples that illustrate that these are achievable and proven. Countries like Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Thailand have utilized compulsory licensing to reduce the prices of life-saving medicines making them accessible for their population. India has embedded stricter patentability criteria under its patent law, preventing the ever-greening of pharmaceutical patents. Evidence on the use of TRIPS flexibilities from the data available reveals TRIPS flexibilities have been used hundreds of times across both high- and low-income countries, demonstrating that these tools work when states are empowered and protected to use them. This proposal is significant because it asserts that human rights must prevail over commercial interests, effectively unlocking the policy space required for states to meet fundamental human needs. It redistributes power from corporate monopolies to governments and communities, enabling a path towards a human rights economy that provides health, food, and knowledge without depending on extractive GDP growth.
