Click here to read the NHSMUN 2011 WTO Background Guide

The WTO blog is now available

Topic 1: Illicit Trade and the Global Economy

Illicit trade has been and continues to be an immense problem for every nation and for people all over the world. Specifically, the illicit trade of arms and drugs are complete markets within themselves, and they destroy economies of many nations, particularly within developing areas of the world. Illegal activities occurring in developing nations retard any positive progress. It is difficult to track illicit trade because it is not officially documented, and its operations are illegitimate by nature. The background guide will work to examine the causes of illegal practices in the global economy, and determine what the role of the WTO should be to combat it.

Corruption takes two parties to participate, and they both must agree to the terms and voluntarily engage in the illegal activity. This relationship will benefit both involved, which is why illicit trade is not easily stopped (Rose-Ackerman 25). Illicit trade becomes more attractive than legal trade in areas of the world that suffer from a poor economy because more money is made quickly, and participants ignore standards of the law. There are so many markets in which illicit trade takes place; some markets are destructive simply because of what they are selling, while others are destructive because of the money they are not paying. This issue has been present for centuries, and it has been addressed in the past (Charnovitz 1,2). However, now the World Trade Organization has the power to create international standards and have negotiations to acknowledge properly this prevalent global situation. In some cases of illicit activity, the act is illegal in one nation but legal in another. The fact that illegal markets are so prevalent and international standards are not strong enough to combat that is precisely the reason why it is important that the WTO help reconcile laws that dictate international trade.

Topic 2: Intellectual Property Rights and the Global Health Crisis

Intellectual Property (IP) includes anything that falls under the category of individual work. For example, “inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce” are all encompassed (What is Intellectual Property 1). It is important to protect people’s individual work, but the patents, copyrights, and trademarks that protect them are not always helpful for nations that are struggling to become developed and stable. When the World Trade Organization creates very high standards of protection for IP rights, certain nations are disadvantaged because the people cannot afford particular goods. Specifically, developing nations have high disease and death rates in part because of the lack of access to affordable medicines. One of the contributing factors to these high prices is IP Rights, because prices of goods increase substantially when IP Rights are in place (TRIPS: WTO Threat to Public Health 1). Prices rise because one is now not only paying for the good itself, but the rights to use it, or the cost of the “brand name.”

This proposal will look to examine the standards that are currently in existence for IP Rights, as well as the issues that are caused in the public health sector by those standards. Delegates will consider: Is access to medicine a basic right that all should have? If so, how can this right be implemented and protected? What should the role of the WTO be in this circumstance, and how can the WTO use their power over trade and IP Rights to protect the people’s right to medicine? The WTO will focus upon how to combat this problem without giving up high standards of property rights in other sectors of the economy.