TWN Info Service on Intellectual Property Issues (Mar14/02)
10 March 2014
Third World Network

WIPO: Gurry nominated for second term as D-G
Published in SUNS #7759 dated 10 March 2014

Geneva, 7 Mar (Kanaga Raja) -- The Coordination Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on Thursday nominated Mr Francis Gurry of Australia, the current incumbent, for a second term as Director-General of the organisation.

According to a WIPO press release, the WIPO General Assembly is to meet in an extraordinary session on 8-9 May to confirm the nomination.

Mr Gurry's first six-year term comes to an end on 30 September 2014.

There were four candidates nominated for the post of WIPO Director-General: Mr Francis Gurry of Australia, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria (a WIPO Deputy Director-General), Mr Juri Seilenthal of Estonia (ambassador to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva), and Mr Alfredo Suescum Alfaro of Panama (ambassador to the WTO and other international organisations in Geneva).

In the first round of voting on Thursday morning, Mr Gurry garnered 46 votes, Mr Onyeama obtained 20 votes, Mr Suescum 10 votes, and Mr Seilenthal 7 votes.

Under WIPO's procedures, Mr Seilenthal was eliminated as a result of garnering the least number of votes in this round.

Following the first round of voting in the morning, the Coordination Committee reconvened in the afternoon for a second round of voting, whereby both Panama and Nigeria took the floor beforehand to announce the withdrawal of the candidacies of Mr Suescum and Mr Onyeama respectively.

Panamanian ambassador Mr Alfredo Suescum informed the Committee that in view of the results of the first round of voting and following consultations, he was withdrawing from this process.

Nigeria then said that after very incisive consultations with the African Group, it is conceding that Mr Francis Gurry has won a persuasive victory and proceeded to congratulate him.

The Chair of the Coordination Committee then announced that in these circumstances, all that was left as members of the Committee, was to propose that they take note that Francis Gurry has been proposed to be elected, at the WIPO General Assembly (on 8-9 May), as Director-General of the organisation for the next six years.

According to the WIPO press release, Mr Gurry was then selected as the consensus nominee by the delegates signalling their acclaim through a round of applause.

Speaking to some journalists after the Committee meeting, Mr Gurry said that he had told the Coordination Committee following his nomination that "it's an exciting time for intellectual property", and that there are considerable tensions but also great opportunities.

"And our task will be to manage the tensions so as to maximise the opportunities for all countries," he added.

Asked if he had anything to change in his second term that he may not have addressed in the first term, Gurry said that one of the areas that he would like to encourage a dialogue on among the membership is "the global digital marketplace" for creative and cultural works.

"And I think [the] transition that we are undergoing at the moment from the analog world to the totally digital environment is a terribly important one and copyright is the major instrument for financing cultural production, and it's very important that we maintain the integrity of that instrument so that it can perform that function in the digital environment," he said.

Asked about the accusations made against him (by his former strategic advisor in a legal complaint filed with the International Labour Office Administrative Tribunal), and that have been cited in the local newspaper ‘Le Temps' as well as by the NGO UN Watch, Gurry said that there are so many interesting and challenging issues in the field of intellectual property and so many interesting things happening at WIPO that he is first of all disappointed that the media focuses on "trivia rather than on the substantive issues" of innovation and financing of cultural creation.

He said that his second comment (on this issue) would be: "I haven't seen any allegation that is substantiated."

Thirdly, he said that every single allegation "is a repetition of a previous allegation that has been made. So, I have seen not only no allegations that have been substantiated but no new allegations."

"And I suggest that ... those who are inclined to focus on these matters in the media that they look at the very substantial challenges that we face in the economy for ensuring that we have a vibrant innovation ecosystem and a copyright system that functions in the digital environment," he declared.

[The Le Temps article, among other things, said that the UN Joint Inspection Unit, the UN body of independent investigators elected by the UN General Assembly and charged with making recommendations for better management of UN agencies, is preparing to make a report on WIPO, and has sent a version to WIPO for comments.

[Le Temps said in that draft, the inspectors said that less than 15% of employees feel that recruitments are transparent and fair. The two authors of the report, Le Temps added, have also criticized a voluntary separation program which involved 87 people and cost 22 million francs, more than 250,000 francs per person.

[According to Le Temps, the WIPO whistle-blower, Miranda Brown, an Australian herself and a strategic advisor for Francis Gurry, who resigned in November 2012, in her complaint filed on 5 February with the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has complained of the WIPO head's "abuse of power", and has accused him of suppressing several embarrassing events, starting with the taking of DNA samples of staff.

[The Le Temps article said that in 2007, Francis Gurry, then not yet the D-G, was a target of anonymous letters accusing him of sexual harassment and financial irregularities. He had filed a complaint with the Geneva authorities. According to Le Temps, in May 2008, his predecessor Kamil Idris had authorized a waiver of immunity of several suspected senior officials and the Geneva police had taken DNA samples in order to expose the person who wrote the letters. The results were negative.

["But once exonerated several employees were surprised to discover in the report of the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) that some personal effects - lipstick, dental floss, packets of candy and cigarettes, a stapler ... - had been stolen to get other DNA samples. To make matters worse, these objects had been received by HUG in March 2008, more than a month before the lifting of immunity, and therefore illegally [obtained]," said the Le Temps article.

[According to Miranda Brown (in her complaint), one of the victims filed a complaint, and was threatened with a transfer to Singapore. The employee eventually got another job in Geneva, but no impartial investigation could be conducted within WIPO to discover who ordered this bizarre operation, Miranda Brown said in her complaint to the ILO labour tribunal.

[The complainant, the Le Temps article said, did not wish to speak about it, while Gurry did not want to answer its questions, but regretted that the Geneva paper was "not interested in substantive issues" but "prefer to address the unsubstantiated allegations of a disgruntled employee who was asked to leave the organization." - SUNS]