GENEVA (Reuters) – Members of the World Trade Organization are likely to conclude next week that it will take a political miracle to agree a new trade deal this year, consigning yet another Doha round deadline to the dustbin.

The U.S. and European Union trade chiefs have already acknowledged that it may not be possible to complete the Doha round of negotiations by 2010, as demanded by leaders at the last G20 summit and other meetings.

GENEVA (Reuters) – China has urged Iran to accept a nuclear fuel swap proposal to ease demands for new sanctions on Tehran, a senior Chinese diplomat said, adding that Beijing wants “every avenue” tried before considering sanctions.

China faces mounting demands from Western powers to approve a proposed United Nations resolution imposing new sanctions on Tehran, which they say wants the means to make nuclear weapons and has broken non-proliferation safeguards.

GENEVA (Reuters) – International calls for China to allow its yuan currency to appreciate take no account of the importance of the country’s stability for the region and for the world, a U.N. agency report said on Tuesday.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also said countries should manage exchange rates through a system allowing nominal exchange rates to be adjusted for inflation differentials.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The row between the United States and European Union about billions of dollars in subsidies for civil aircraft takes a step toward resolution this month with a confidential report from the World Trade Organization.

Industry sources said on Monday a WTO panel would circulate a confidential ruling to the parties in the U.S. case against aid for Airbus <ARBU.UL> planes built by EADS <EAD.PA> by the end of March.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Human rights in North Korea have worsened over the last few years and it is time for the United Nations Security Council to protect the people who are mistreated by their own government, a U.N. envoy said on Monday.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), said his main achievement in six years was that the world was now better informed about abuses in the reclusive country.

GENEVA, March 15 (Reuters) – Human rights in North Korea have worsened over the last few years and it is time for the United Nations Security Council to protect the people who are mistreated by their own government, a U.N. envoy said on Monday.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), said his main achievement in six years was that the world was now better informed about abuses in the reclusive country.

"Sadly on many fronts the situation has actually got worse," he told a news conference after presenting a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council that spoke of "harrowing and horrific" human rights violations in the communist state. [ID:nLDE62B1OO]

One example was the way the authorities had clamped down recently on a cautious experiment introducing market elements into food production started after the state distribution system collapsed in the 1990s resulting in widespread starvation.

Muntarbhorn said the clamp-down and related redenomination of the won currency last year had led to inflation and insecurity, and malnutrition remained a serious problem.

"Logically, it would seem that if the authorities are not able to satisfy the basic needs of the people, the people should be able to participate in activities which can help generate income so as to enable them to produce or buy their own food as well as sustain their livelihood," he told the council.



NORTH KOREA DENUNCIATION

North Korean diplomat Choe Myong Nam dismissed the report and told the council the very creation of the rapporteur — who has never been accepted by Pyongyang — was the result of hostility to his country by the United States, Japan and the European Union.

These countries were responsible for plenty of human rights abuses themselves and were just seeking confrontation, he said.

"The anachronistic ‘special rapporteur’ on DPRK must be eliminated once and for all," Choe said.

Muntarbhorn, who underlined his independence from other states, said recommended several steps for improving human rights.

— improve food supplies by allowing people to grow and trade their own food, and work with international food aid donors,

— stop executions, especially public executions used to intimidate people,

— end the punishment of refugees sent back to North Korea,

— cooperate with other countries whose citizens have been abducted by North Korea,

— allow the special rapporteur to visit.

The Thai jurist, whose six-year mandate ends in June, said North Korea had never allowed him to visit, and he had relied for information on refugees, non-governmental organisations and U.N. agencies with a presence in the country.

Muntarbhorn said the question arose who would help people subjected to "systematic widespread abuses" if their nation state was unwilling or unable to protect them.

"My answer is that at least the Untied Nations must lend a helping hand," he said.

Some parts of the U.N. were working with North Korea, but the top of the system — the Security Council, with the power to refer abuses to the International Criminal Court — had not yet been involved, he said.

Muntarbhorn said he favoured food aid for North Korea, but this must be carefully monitored to ensure resources were not diverted to the party and military elite, and North Korea itself had to spend more of its own resources on food provision instead of focusing on a military build-up.

He said current sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear programme appeared to be carefully targeted at the elite and were not having a human rights impact.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

GENEVA, March 12 (Reuters) – Poor people in India and other developing countries may lose access to affordable generic drugs as part of free-trade negotiations between India and the European Union, a medical advocacy group said on Friday.

The warning by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) highlights one of the most sensitive issues in trade — the extent to which companies’ intellectual property rights can be waived to help poor countries and whether that stifles research and innovation.

The European Union said it was not asking that India stop producing cheap generic medicines.

Back in 2005 India granted patents on medicines to respect international trade rules and MSF said a new free-trade agreement now under negotiation would tighten these rules.

"The bilateral trade agreement negotiated with the EU now threatens to impose even higher standards of intellectual property protection, enabling companies to maintain prohibitively high prices on medicines," it said in a statement.

Anti-poverty campaigners are particularly concerned about the impact of the EU-India deal because of India’s large generic drugs industry.

In New Delhi, about 150-200 people, including HIV/AIDS sufferers, protested outside the trade ministry as EU and Indian negotiators arrived for talks.

"We are marching to call on the Indian government not to trade away our lives," said Loon Gangte, president of the Delhi Network of Positive People.

Gangte said international trade rules that India had already signed up to meant some newer AIDS treatments were patented and unaffordable, and the new EU agreement could further compromise access to life-saving medicine.



"PHARMACY OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD"

MSF campaigner Leena Menghaney said India was the "pharmacy of the developing world", providing 92 percent of AIDS medicines now used in developing countries.

"India is like a safe haven. If you can’t get the drugs from India, where else can you them from?" she told Reuters.

The European Commission says any deal would allow India to continue providing affordable drugs.

"We have made it clear that both parties must keep the capacity to promote access to medicines in the developing world," commission trade spokesman John Clancy told Reuters.

This week’s closed-door talks in New Delhi will be followed by formal negotiations in Brussels in April.

The EU’s new trade commissioner, Karel de Gucht, wants to complete the free-trade agreement by October. [ID:nSGE6230JP]

But some Indian officials believe that is ambitious, given the need to discuss sensitive issues such as child labour and environmental standards.

De Gucht, a former EU development and humanitarian aid commissioner, told the European Parliament in January that access to medicine should be a fundamental right and the agreement would not impede trade in generics, but intellectual property rights also needed to be respected.

MSF said the proposed agreement — whose details have not been officially published — would legitimise seizures by EU officials of Indian generic drugs in transit to other developing countries.

India and Brazil have threatened to launch a formal dispute at the World Trade Organization over EU seizures of Indian generics bound for Brazil, but negotiations to settle the row are continuing.

MSF said the proposed agreement would delay the registration of generic medicines for several years and extend patent terms beyond 20 years. (Additional reporting by Matthias Williams in New Delhi)