Justin Hughes
Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO

At the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Diplomatic Conference

Marrakesh, Morocco
19 June 2013

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The United States congratulates you and all the other officers of this Diplomatic Conference on your election. We also extend our thanks to His Majesty, King Mohammed VI, and Government and people of the Kingdom of Morocco for their tremendous hospitality in hosting this Diplomatic Conference in the beautiful and extraordinary city of Marrakesh.

In April 2012, President Obama pledged the United States’ commitment to an “effective international instrument . . . that ensures that copyright is not a barrier to equal access to information, culture, and education for visually impaired persons and persons with print disabilities.”

We reaffirm that commitment today.

Improving access to copyrighted works for the benefit of blind and other people with print disabilities is an issue of the highest priority for the United States. We are here because we are committed to combatting the book famine — the lack of accessible format copies of books for the blind and other persons with print disabilities globally. We believe that the delegations here in Marrakesh can achieve a legally binding agreement that will significantly improve access to knowledge, culture, and education for people with print disabilities in the United States and throughout the world, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of the international copyright system.

Indeed, over fifteen years ago the United States was at the forefront of the now roughly sixty countries that have exceptions for persons with print disabilities in their national laws. Recognizing a preference for – and the importance of – rights holders making their works available, we nonetheless concluded that carefully balanced exceptions were needed in this area. And we established such exceptions in 1996.

The basic structure of the agreement has already been decided. Taking aim at the core problems of the book famine, the current draft of the agreement would break new legal ground in international copyright law in two ways. First, it requires countries to provide exceptions in their national copyright law for the creation and use of accessible format copies by the blind and other people with print disabilities. Second, it facilitates the cross-border exchange of accessible format copies so that duplicative efforts can be avoided and the number of accessible works in each country meaningfully increased.

While the contours of the future system are in place, there are a number of critical and challenging issues that must be resolved by the delegations assembled here; these include both issues directly bearing on the provision of accessible format copies to persons with print disabilities and the relationship of this agreement to the existing framework of copyright treaties.

We believe this work can be completed with good will, creativity, and commitment. In all of this, we are inspired by the good will of our colleagues in this room and we remain – as we said in December – optimists: optimists because, as Helen Keller said, “[n]o pessimist ever . . . opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Statement by Jen Psaki,
Spokesperson
U.S. Department of State
Washington,
June 18, 2013

A mother-and-child portrait decorated the stage when John Kerry attended a PEPFAR anniversary event.

By Charlene Porter
IIP Staff Writer
Washington,
June 18, 2013

With distribution of assistance exceeding $37 billion, PEPFAR is the largest and most successful foreign assistance program ever adopted, Kerry said.

“One million babies — like Tatu’s daughter Faith — can grow up happy and healthy, go to school, realize their dreams, break out of this cycle, maybe even have sons and daughters of their own free from the burden and the fear of HIV,” Kerry said.

Tatu Msangi, a nursing officer at a medical center in Tanzania who attended the anniversary ceremony, had discovered in 2004 she was both pregnant and HIV-positive. Though shocked and fearful, Msangi received the drugs that prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and gave birth to a healthy daughter she named Faith.

“My daughter Faith is all the proof you need that an AIDS-free generation is possible,” Msangi told the audience, many of whom have vivid memories and their own stories to tell about the AIDS timeline and implementation of PEPFAR.

When the U.S. Congress approved PEPFAR funding, more than 30 million people worldwide were infected and, in the developing world, only a small fraction were receiving treatment. Some experts believed the law was too late, Kerry said.

“Today a disease that seemed unstoppable is in retreat,” Kerry said. He cited supporting statistics: New HIV infections have declined by 20 percent, the number of deaths is down one-third in Africa, and 8 million people are receiving drugs that can keep the virus in check.

Kerry said 13 nations have now reached the “tipping point,” where the number of people receiving treatment exceeds the number of newly infected people. That means the virus is under control, and in decline. That means that progressing to the birth of a generation without AIDS is possible, he said.

With U.S. assistance under the PEPFAR program, Namibian Minister of Health Richard Nehabi Kamwi said, his country has passed the tipping point. With AIDS in decline, he said, Namibia is also making enormous progress overcoming the diseases that are so often associated with HIV infection.

“We are on the verge of malaria elimination, working stringently towards TB elimination,” Kamwi said at the State Department ceremony. “And with the strength of our global partnership, Namibia may be the first country on the African continent to eliminate HIV transmission.”

Providing funding for large deliveries of AIDS drugs was only one component of PEPFAR activities. The program also worked to establish the clinics, the health care workforce, the laboratories and other facilities that could provide not just AIDS care, but a broader level of overall health care than had been available before. In six countries where assistance has been most intense, Global AIDS Ambassador Eric Goosby said, significant health care improvements have been achieved.

“We’ve seen reductions in maternal-child, and TB-related mortality, dramatic reductions,” Goosby said. “We’ve seen increased use of antenatal care and wider availability of safe blood [for transfusion].”

Both Goosby and Kerry acknowledged that there is more to do, more people who need medicine, and more places that need hospitals. But Kerry said the PEPFAR successes should provide inspiration to move forward, “to know that we can do the remarkable, we can find solutions to what seems to be unsolvable, we can overcome the insurmountable, and we can leave politics and ideology at the wayside in order to choose life.”

Kerry extended thanks to many lawmakers, activists and medical experts who contributed to the PEPFAR mission. Goosby called them “AIDS heroes” and announced that his office is launching an annual program to recognize people who have made great contributions to the effort to combat the disease and improve global health. The first individuals to receive the honor will be named on World AIDS Day December 1.

Afghan President Karzai and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen shake hands at a ceremony marking Afghan forces taking the lead in combat operations.

By Stephen Kaufman
IIP Staff Writer
Washington,
June 18, 2013

Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Northern Ireland June 18, Obama said the transfer of command from International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) to Afghan National Security Forces fulfills a milestone agreed upon between the Afghan government and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in May 2012.

“An Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process is the best way to end the violence and to ensure lasting stability in Afghanistan and the region,” Obama said.

The president said that ultimately all insurgent groups will need to accept “an Afghan constitution that renounces ties with al-Qaida, ends violence and is committed to protection of women and minorities in the country.”

The United States does not anticipate that negotiations with insurgent groups will be “easy or quick,” but a political process to end the conflict in Afghanistan needs to be pursued in parallel with military action, he said.

“We, in the meantime, remain fully committed to our military efforts to defeat al-Qaida and to support the Afghan National Security Forces,” the president said.

In a June 18 statement, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said having Afghan forces oversee combat operations “keeps us and our coalition partners on track to bring our combat mission to a close next year and transition to a noncombat, train, advise and assist mission that will help ensure Afghans can sustain security into the future.”

Hagel said the transfer is “a tribute to the determination of the people of Afghanistan to take responsibility for their country’s future,” which was made possible by heavy sacrifices by coalition and Afghan forces.

Senior Obama administration officials who asked not to be identified told reporters June 18 that the Taliban’s release of a statement opposing the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries and in support of an Afghan peace process had fulfilled the requirements for the Taliban to open a political office in Doha to negotiate with the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai.

“The U.S. will have a role in direct talks, but this is a negotiation that will have to be led by Afghans,” an official said. The first meeting between U.S. representatives and the Taliban would take place “in a couple of days” and would be followed soon after by meetings between the Taliban and the High Peace Council set up by President Karzai to represent the Afghan government, according to the official.

“I think that the first meeting is likely to be just an exchange of agendas rather than any substantive, detailed discussion. We’ll tell them what we want to talk about; they’ll tell us what they want to talk about; and we’ll both then adjourn and consult on next steps, and then have another meeting in a week or two later,” the official said.

From the beginning, U.S. representatives will want to discuss how the Taliban will cut ties with al-Qaida, as well as discuss U.S. prisoners held by the Taliban, but they will also be stressing that the negotiations in Doha will be primarily among Afghans.

“Most of the issues that need to be resolved if there’s going to be peace and stability in Afghanistan are issues that only can be resolved among the Afghans,” the official said.

“It’s going to be a slow process to get that dialogue, that intra-Afghan dialogue, moving. And the United States will encourage and help facilitate that. But the talks are largely going to be paced by the success or failure in that dialogue, and so I wouldn’t be looking for early results,” the official said.

On both the transition of security responsibility from coalition to Afghan forces and the political process with the Taliban, the official said, “we’ve been very tightly coordinated with the Afghan government and feel confident that we’re moving forward in a manner that advances our broader strategy.”

“These aren’t steps being taken in isolation, but rather they’re part of responsibly ending the war through a transition to Afghan security and through an open door to a political process,” the official said.

President Obama (center) with first lady Michelle Obama after delivering a keynote address in Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 17.

By Jane Morse
IIP Staff Writer
Washington,
June 18, 2013

“You are the first generation in this land to inherit more than just the hardened attitudes and the bitter prejudices of the past. You’re an inheritor of a just and hard-earned peace,” Obama told the youth gathered at the Belfast Waterfront Convention Center.

Until the 1998 peace agreement, Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom but largely self-governing, had for decades been wracked by violence between those (mostly Protestants) who wished to see Northern Ireland continue as part of the United Kingdom and those (mostly Catholics) who wished to unite it with the rest of Ireland, independent from the United Kingdom.

Obama was in Northern Ireland in advance of the Group of Eight Summit, which was held in Lough Erne. He told the young people, “There was a time people couldn’t have imagined Northern Ireland hosting a gathering of world leaders, as you are today.” But Belfast and Northern Ireland have been transformed in the last generation, he said.

“These daily moments of life in a bustling city and a changing country, it may seem ordinary to many of you — and that’s what makes it so extraordinary,” Obama said. “That’s what your parents and grandparents dreamt for all of you — to travel without the burden of checkpoints, or roadblocks, or seeing soldiers on patrol. To enjoy a sunny day free from the ever-present awareness that violence could blacken it at any moment. … Because of their effort, because of their courage, that day has come.”

But Obama cautioned that lasting peace and prosperity take time to develop and that there are many wounds to heal.

While praising Northern Ireland’s current leadership, Obama said, “Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It’s about attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our own hearts that don’t exist in any objective reality, but that we carry with us generation after generation.”

Obama called upon Northern Ireland’s youth to push their leadership to help change attitudes, deal with the past and build a united future.

“And you should know,” Obama said, “that so long as you are moving forward, America will always stand by you as you do.” He said the United States would cooperate in efforts to support both political and economic progress in Northern Ireland “because jobs and opportunity are essential to peace.”

The United States is an important economic partner for Northern Ireland, according to a State Department fact sheet released during Obama’s visit to Northern Ireland. In the period 2002–2012, $1.6 billion (nearly 35 percent) of foreign direct investment in Northern Ireland came from the United States. In the past five years, more than 50 U.S. investment projects have resulted in more than $1 billion in investment and almost 5,000 new jobs in Northern Ireland.

In addition, according to the State Department fact sheet, the United States has provided assistance to promote conflict resolution and reconciliation via training programs in community organizations, facilitated educational and cultural exchanges, partnered in scientific research and economic development projects, and promoted women as political and social leaders.

First lady Michelle Obama, who also addressed the youth at the June 17 town hall, urged them to rise above old divisions.

“You have the freedom of an open mind,” Mrs. Obama said. “You have a fresh perspective that can help you find solutions to age-old problems. And with today’s technology, you can connect with other young people from all over Northern Ireland and all around the world.

“So right now, you’ve got a choice to make,” she said. “You’ve got to decide how you’re going to use those advantages and opportunities to build the lives you dream of. Because that decision will determine not only the kinds of people you’ll become, but also the kinds of communities you’ll live in, the kind of world we’ll all share together.”

Fact Sheet

The NGO Handbook

Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2012/09/20120907135600.html#ixzz2WYtOPzwW

Washington, 2012

From right to left, U.K. Prime Minister Cameron, European Commission President Barroso, President Obama and European Council President Van Rompuy all expressed hopes for the success of trade talks.

By Stephen Kaufman
IIP Staff Writer
Washington,
June 17, 2013

Speaking in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, June 17 on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) summit, Obama said the U.S.-EU relationship is already the largest in the world, encompassing nearly half of the global gross domestic product and totaling about $1 trillion in goods and services and nearly $4 trillion in investment in each other’s economies every year.

“This potentially groundbreaking partnership would deepen those ties. It would increase exports, decrease barriers to trade and investment. As part of broader growth strategies in both our economies, it would support hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the ocean,” the president said.

According to a June 17 fact sheet from the White House, the first round of T-TIP negotiations will take place the week of July 8 under the leadership of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Along with helping to increase trade and investment levels between the U.S. and the EU, the agreement would eliminate all tariffs on trade, as well as address “behind the border” nontariff trade barriers impeding the flow of trade goods, including agricultural products.

The fact sheet said the agreement would also promote greater compatibility, transparency and cooperation, while maintaining high levels of health, safety and environmental protection.

The T-TIP can also serve to develop rules, principles and ways to cooperate on issues of global concern such as intellectual property rights protection, how to address state-owned enterprises and discriminatory localization barriers to trade, the fact sheet said.

Joining the president in a press appearance in Lough Erne were G8 summit host David Cameron, prime minister of the United Kingdom; José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission; and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council.

Barroso said the T-TIP would benefit not only Europeans and Americans but the rest of the world as well.

“Given the integrated supply chains in today’s global markets, everyone can benefit from this agreement,” he said.

Through the negotiations, the United States and the EU are writing “the next chapter of what is our common history, also forged by the sense that we share the same principles and values, the principles and values of open economies and open societies,” Barroso said.

Van Rompuy said opening up trade between Europe and the United States is “simply common sense.”

“Not just our own economies, but also those of our trading partners will benefit. The positive ramifications will even go beyond the economy as such,” he said, adding that as the global economy becomes more interdependent the world will become safer.

Cameron said the deal could add as much as $157 billion to the EU economy, $127 billion to the U.S. economy and as much as $133 billion to economies in the rest of the world.

“We’re talking about what could be the biggest bilateral trade deal in history; a deal that will have a greater impact than all the other trade deals on the table put together,” he said.

In the coming negotiations, both sides need to maintain the political will to overcome their differences. “This is a once-in-a-generation prize and we are determined to seize it,” Cameron said.

Fact Sheet: President Obama Increases Humanitarian Assistance to Syrians

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
June 17, 2013

Today, during his meeting with G-8 leaders in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, President Obama announced over $300 million in additional life-saving humanitarian assistance to help feed, shelter, and provide medical care for children, women, and men affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria. The United States remains the single-largest contributor of humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and this new contribution brings total U.S. humanitarian assistance for the Syria crisis to nearly $815 million since the crisis began.

The United States supports and appreciates the countries hosting the 1.6 million refugees who have fled the brutal conflict in Syria, and commends host-nation efforts to provide protection, assistance, and hospitality to all those fleeing violence. The United States recognizes the significant strains on host communities and the economic impact of providing refuge to such a large number of people. We call on all host governments to continue to keep their borders open to those still fleeing violence in Syria.

This $300 million in additional humanitarian aid from the United States will increase food aid, medical care, clean water, and provide shelter and other relief supplies for families suffering in Syria and neighboring countries. In addition, the United States is increasing support for activities to protect especially vulnerable populations—including women, children, and the elderly—and improving sanitation and hygiene to help prevent the spread of water-borne illness.

The United States is now providing aid to 3.2 million people in Syria across all 14 governorates and continues to work through all possible channels to deliver aid to those in need in Syria, including through the United Nations, international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local Syrian organizations.

This new U.S. assistance includes:

INSIDE SYRIA: Over $128 million

Additional aid from the United States is increasing life-saving health and emergency medical capacity; providing additional food aid, including American wheat that will be milled into flour; providing more blankets, hygiene kits, clothing, and shelter materials; and supporting women, children, and those with special needs.

LEBANON: Over $72 million

The increased U.S. aid supports Syrian refugees as well as Lebanese host communities with shelter improvements for families hosting refugees, quick impact projects to improve local services in affected areas, along with vocational training, educational classes, and income generation activities to benefit Syrians and Lebanese in need. Additionally, new funding supports efforts to register newly-arrived Syrian refugees and provide them with food vouchers and cash assistance. Increased funding will provide food assistance to 165,000 Syrian refugees by July 2013.

U.S. funding ensures that 400,000 children under the age of five are immunized against measles, that water and sanitation services reach 70,000 refugees and host communities, and that more than 100,000 children have a safe educational environment.

In Lebanon, the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria now exceeds 56,500 and is anticipated to reach 80,000 by December. Palestinian arrivals from Syria are largely making their way to Lebanon’s existing Palestinian camps. These camps were already overcrowded and in disrepair before the influx from Syria increased the camps’ population by approximately 20 percent. U.S. support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon provides needed assistance to this population, including cash assistance, relief supplies, education, and medical care.

JORDAN: Over $45 million

Our increased funding increases our food assistance to Jordan, providing monthly food assistance to 192,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan by July 2013. The United States is also providing shelter support, protection services, education, and health care. We are helping provide health services in camps, host communities, and transit sites, especially for children under age five. In addition, U.S. funding will support a water network expansion at Za’atri camp, and reduce the reliance on water trucking and improve sanitation.

IRAQ: Over $24 million

Additional funding from the United States supports camp construction and much-needed relief assistance, protection programs, and education for children who have fled the conflict in Syria. U.S. assistance also contributes to vaccinations for 21,000 women and children, water and sanitation services in camps for 24,500 refugees, and mental health counseling to 8,700 children. The additional funding supports food vouchers and in-kind food assistance for 36,500 Syrian refugees in Iraq.

TURKEY: Over $22 million

Additional U.S. funding is helping offset the Government of Turkey’s generous spending on direct assistance to Syrian refugees. The United States is supporting costs of urban refugee registration and the provision of tents, blankets, kitchen burners, and kitchen sets for Syrians who have fled into Turkey. Our additional funding includes food vouchers for 69,000 refugees living in camps.

Our assistance provides immunizations and recreation spaces for Syrian children and youth, as well as counseling for those who have endured traumatic events. The United States is helping build the capacity of Syrian doctors and health clinics in Turkey through trainings, service coordination, and regularization of small clinics. Additionally, U.S. funding is helping implement a disaster risk management plan to reduce, mitigate, prepare for, and respond to public health risks to vulnerable populations with a goal of preventing avoidable mortality and morbidity through improved access to health care.

EGYPT: Over $6 million

U.S. assistance helps ensure 20,000 refugees have access to primary health care and helps provide pre-school and primary school for some 3,000 refugee children. The additional funding will support food vouchers for 11,500 Syrian refugees in Egypt.

For more detailed information on the U.S. Government’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, please visit: http://www.usaid.gov/crisis/syria.

Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2013/06/20130617276505.html#ixzz2WYYOZR6s

Ambassador William Lacy Swing,
Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

102^nd (Special) Council of the International Organization of Migration

Statement by the United States of America
Geneva,
June 14, 2013

Photo Gallery

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

To begin, I would like to sincerely thank fellow Member States for re-electing Bill Swing as Director General of the International Organization for Migration.  IOM has become a more transparent, more responsive, and more strategically structured organization under his leadership, and we are unequivocally confident that under his continued guidance the organization will thrive.

I would also like to warmly welcome the Republic of Suriname and the Republic of Malawi as new IOM member states.  IOM Member States have a strong tradition of cooperation and collaboration, and we look forward to you joining us in this tradition.

Mr. Director General, your election to a second term by acclamation serves as testament to the confidence Member States have in you.  This is justified; your accomplishments in your first term are impressive.

You have strengthened relationships with key partners in the international community, achieving, for example, an unprecedented level of cooperation in responding to the needs of thousands of innocent migrants during the 2011 Libya crisis.  You have displayed substantive initiative to enrich the global migration dialogue – whether at the Global Forum on Migration and Development, or in New York – where IOM has successfully organized several roundtables on migration issues – or here in Geneva, where IOM is clearly recognized as the world’s international migration agency.  We look forward to participating in the Diaspora Ministerial Forum next week where we will have a further opportunity to learn from the valuable experiences of other Member States.

You have added structure to the organization – seeking to improve oversight of country missions by strengthening the management capacities of regional offices – all within the confines of the limited budget availabilities, which we are confident we will resolve this year under the very capable leadership of Ambassador de Crombrugghe of Belgium.

Mr. Director General, you have been at the forefront of recent humanitarian crisis response, including the Haiti earthquake, Mali and Syria, and you have uniquely demonstrated IOM leadership in addressing migration in such situations by developing your organization’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework.

You welcome the input of states and staff alike –promoting Member State ownership of the organization, while also reaching out to restore open communication between the administration and staff members representing the organization around the globe, often in challenging and sometimes dangerous locations.  The backbone of any organization is its people – and IOM staff are a prime example of this.  On this note, I want to take a moment to express my government’s profound outrage over the unjustified and unacceptable attack on the IOM office in Kabul.  Our thoughts continue to be with the staff and families affected by this event.  Amazingly, your staff have picked up and continued their important work providing assistance in Afghanistan.  For that, we salute your resolve to assist the Afghan people

Although the list of your accomplishments is long, your work is not done – nor is our work as Member States.  Many of the initiatives undertaken during your tenure – the structural reform, the human resource reform and implementation of the new human resource strategy – are still in progress.  Other efforts – most notably the IOM Budget Reform discussions – will require ongoing close collaboration between the IOM administration and the IOM Member States.  We have made commendable progress, but as Member States we have an obligation to continue to look at how we can better support IOM.  The administration has shared with us the significant gaps in the IOM budget structure and now it is up to us to respond.  Our discussions and this honest and frank exchange could not happen without the strong foundation of trust you have built between the administration and the IOM Member States.  As we move forward, we will need the continued engagement by the IOM administration and IOM member states to keep information flowing and momentum going.  We remain confident that will happen.

Mr. Chairman, in conclusion

The United States has long been a strong supporter of IOM.  We value IOM as a strategic partner in advancing our goals of legal, orderly, and humane migration and its leadership in responding to migration challenges during humanitarian crises.  We would like to congratulate the Member States for re-electing a Director General who will build on the progress of the last five years.  We look forward to working closely with our colleagues in this room as we continue to strengthen the organization and support its role in the international community.

Thank you.