"The overall objective of this training programme is to build competence in the mainstream media in Uganda to understand, appreciate and report issues of intellectual property at both the national and international levels," a statement from the organisation says.
The training which includes field work is scheduled to take place between July this year and June 2012, according to CEHURD. The program is designed to inform journalists about the commercial law reform processes in Uganda and the East African region, to strengthen the capacity of journalists to report on IP policies consistent with human rights principles and social welfare needs. It is further expected to map issues of interest in the areas of medicines, education and agriculture as they relate to developments in IP.
The organisation is targeting journalists and media houses with interest in reporting on (IP) laws in Uganda and elsewhere in the world. The training comes on the back of the ongoing reforms in IP laws and policies in different countries in a bid to align them with the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
TRIPS is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property in the world. This agreement sets out the minimum standards of protection for intellectual property to be provided by each WTO member country. The agreement was signed by the WTO member countries in Doha, Qatar in 1994. Member countries are obliged to reform their commercial laws to conform to the agreement.
As a result of these reforms, Uganda has in place the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act; Draft Industrial Properties Bill and the Plant Variety Protection Bill as some of the legislation in the process of this reform. Uganda has also developed the Counterfeit Goods Bill though not part of the reform process, it has implications for the other bills that are part of the reform process.
As a Least Developed Country, Uganda has a transitional period extending to 2013 to implement the general provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, and until 2016 in the case of provisions relating to pharmaceutical products. This period is soon closing up.
However, in recent years, the agreement has generated serious debate around the likely impact on social welfare and human rights, particularly in developing countries like Uganda where innovation is relatively low. The law requires the member countries to reform their own laws in accordance with conditions that were agreed upon in Doha.
CEHURD argues that Uganda is at risk of making it difficult for its citizens to access affordable medicines, knowledge and agriculture by adopting the new commercial laws in their current state. For instance most Ugandan university students resort to photocopying of textbooks instead of buying the original copies due to the high cost.
"This implies that if copyright were enforced more efficiently, this would result in serious problems by students to access textbooks needed for their education," the human rights body says in a concept note on the impact of IP laws and human rights.
