TWN Info Service on Health Issues (Mar26/04)
26 March 2026
Third World Network

WHO: Civil society calls on WHO DG to adhere to access and benefit sharing norms

Geneva, 25 March, (K M Gopakumar) – More than hundred civil society groups and coalitions working at the national, regional and national level have written to the Director-General of WHO to adhere to the international norms and standards on access and benefit sharing (ABS).

The letter asks Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to ensure that WHO does not place undue pressure on developing countries to dilute their positions simply to secure a quick conclusion to the ongoing Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system.

The letter was sent just before the start of the 6^th round of negotiations on the PABS System (23 to 28 March).  The Bureau’s text dated 9 March was criticized for its bias towards the European Union’s position. As reported earlier, developing countries rejected the Bureau’s text as a basis for negotiation on the first day of the 6^th meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), which has the mandate to negotiate PABS.

The letter expressed concerns over the concept note shared by the WHO Secretariat during the 5^th IGWG meeting explaining some of WHO’s pathogen sharing arrangements. The letter states:

“We are deeply concerned that WHO's approach to pathogen sequence information sharing is actively enabling and promoting digital biopiracy, rather than safeguarding the rights of Member States. WHO is encouraging the deposit of pathogen sequence information into databases that have made no commitment to operationalizing ABS obligations and that remain entirely unaccountable to WHO and its membership. Critically, WHO has failed to mandate user registration, identity verification, and data access agreements as baseline requirements when selecting or recommending databases — despite these being indispensable mechanisms for operationalizing Member States' rights to fair and equitable benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information”.

According to the letter WHO’s current arrangements violate ABS norms and standards under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing). It points out that WHO pathogen sharing arrangements also conflict with WHO Laboratory Guidance 2024. This document recommends “use of material transfer agreements specifying “the quantity and nature of the material being transferred”, “limitations on the use or distribution of the material” and the rights and responsibilities of both the provider and recipient of the material, such as “intellectual property rights”, “publication of information (data) generated from materials” and “liability for any harm resulting from the use of the material”.

Further, the letter recalls the WHO Secretariat’s position against the establishment of a WHO Pathogen Database citing resource constrains and potential disruptive effect on the existing databases. The letter states that the WHO’s reasoning is not backed by any “concrete assessment of required resources or substantiated explanation of the claimed disruption” that has been provided to Member State.

The letter explains the consequences of relying on private sector database and stresses: “It is also important to recognize that much of the current data infrastructure is privately owned or controlled by institutions based in a few developed countries. These databases are not accountable to WHO Members and are not committed to effectively operationalize ABS, especially those that allow anonymous access. Moreover, their mode of operation can change at any time. We have seen how quickly platforms can be transformed following governance changes, as when Twitter became X after its takeover by Elon Musk”.

The letter also cites the change of policy of SNP-SEEK database, which shifted from free access to a subscription model. Further the letter expresses the strong belief that “WHO Members must have the possibility to provide access to their sequences to a multilaterally-governed WHO PABS Sequence Database that is committed to implementing and operationalizing ABS effectively”.

It states that “supporting efforts to address these concerns, the WHO Secretariat has often advocated for a PABS system that would effectively make the sharing of pathogens and related DSI an obligation, without the proportionate benefit-sharing or adequate safeguards against misuse”.

The letter emphasizes “that, as a UN specialized agency, WHO has a duty to ensure that its mechanisms and networks fully respect the CBD and its Nagoya Protocol. It must refrain from actions that directly or indirectly enable biopiracy or heighten biosecurity risks. WHO also has a responsibility to advise and caution IGWG members against proposals that create loopholes or facilitate or legitimise biopiracy”.