UNITED NATIONS, Jun 20 (IPS) – The 164-member World Trade Organization (WTO) has implicitly rubber-stamped a widely-condemned policy of “vaccine apartheid” which has discriminated the world’s poorer nations, mostly in Africa and Asia, depriving them of any wide-ranging intellectual property rights.
As Max Lawson, Co-Chair of the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam, said at the conclusion of the WTO’s ministerial meeting last week: “The conduct of rich countries at the WTO has been utterly shameful”.

Türkiye’s changes to child detention ‘raise serious human rights concerns’
Ukraine: Civilian casualties hit highest level since March 2022
World News in Brief: Afghanistan education, Myanmar flooding, Syria recovery, homecare workers in New York
Ebola tracing improves in DR Congo – but the virus is still winning the race
Gaza: Destruction of buildings rises by nearly 10 per cent since ceasefire
PARAGUAY: ‘Transparency Should Strengthen Democracy, Not Turn Criticism of Those in Power into a Cause for Suspicion’
A photographic memory is wishful thinking