***aCe***
Indigenous people of the Pacific should not be denied of their rights by the Developing nations into dictating whether or not their Traditional Knowledge and Expression of Culture should be put into Law. This is because the Indigenous people have the respect for their origins, their culture, and have the knowledge of what should be put into Law for its protection and from further exploitation from ‘outsiders’.
All 27 Pacific country representatives echoed this message right around the room during the first day of the Festival of Arts Symposium held on Friday last week at the Koror State Assembly Hall.
Pacific representatives were responding to a presentation by an invited speaker Shin-ichi Uehara, a Japanese expert of copyright for more than 10 years and a member of the Copyright Council of the Japanese Government that in folklore and traditional expression “no one knows who are the authors, the terms of rights, or protection period in view of copyright system have now long expired”. Mr. Uehara said Traditional Expressions in some cases have secret and sacred elements challenging participants that “how can you protect secret and sacred elements by legal systems, especially by international norm”?.
He further elaborated that the issue was very difficult and from past themes of discussions at the international level, there was such discussion as to how to protect the knowledge of mixing a certain traditional ‘medicine’.
“I believe this knowledge deserves legal protection, by taking into consideration of both economic and cultural aspects but medicine is not expression”, he said.
He added that the issue is rather close to the field of patent making it very confusing. “We do not see any sign of hope leading to the resolutions on those areas internationally”.
Mr. Uehara’s comments added fuel to the already outraged participants from Hawaii, Guam and other colonized states that are experiencing exploitation of their ‘fundamental humanity’ every day.
A University student from Guam Julian Agnon expressed concern that he did not want to witness a repeat of what has happened in Guam in other countries of the Pacific. He expressed disgust on the very limited level of understanding the developing world have towards the Indigenous peoples’.
A Hawaiian participant expressed the same grievances adding that the Hawaiian people have finally stood their grounds to fight the issue right through.
However, Papua New Guinea’s representative Ms Ilikomau Ali joined other Pacific Island representatives into co-orporating with one another by contributing towards the re-defining and fine tuning of the already existing Model Law that has been around for three years now on Traditional Knowledge and Expression of Culture. The Model Law has been drafted by legal experts and cultural ‘masters’ of the Pacific for possible adoption by each country.
Another Papua New Guinean observer from the East New Britain Provincial Government Nelson Paulias commended the Palaun Government in taking on the issue calling for members of the Festival Secretariat to invite the developing world representatives to come to a round table discussion with the people of the Pacific to put forward and further educate them with their grievances on this particular issue.
Meanwhile, the Festival of Arts Symposium will run throughout the duration of the festival on topics like; Natural History, Roles and Responsibilities of Traditional and Elected Leadership, Cultural Well-Being and Wealth derived from Natural Resources, Social Change and Impacts, Traditional Skills and Games, Education and Future of our Nations, Performing Arts, Traditional
Navigation, Visual Arts, Applied Arts and Crafts, Literature, Traditional Medicine and Healing, Culinary Arts and outsider perspective about the Festival of Pacific Arts.
Also attending the symposium are representatives from UNESCO, the South Pacific Commission (SPC), United States of American Indigenous Peoples and the World Media.
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All 27 Pacific country representatives echoed this message right around the room during the first day of the Festival of Arts Symposium held on Friday last week at the Koror State Assembly Hall.
Pacific representatives were responding to a presentation by an invited speaker Shin-ichi Uehara, a Japanese expert of copyright for more than 10 years and a member of the Copyright Council of the Japanese Government that in folklore and traditional expression “no one knows who are the authors, the terms of rights, or protection period in view of copyright system have now long expired”. Mr. Uehara said Traditional Expressions in some cases have secret and sacred elements challenging participants that “how can you protect secret and sacred elements by legal systems, especially by international norm”?.
He further elaborated that the issue was very difficult and from past themes of discussions at the international level, there was such discussion as to how to protect the knowledge of mixing a certain traditional ‘medicine’.
“I believe this knowledge deserves legal protection, by taking into consideration of both economic and cultural aspects but medicine is not expression”, he said.
He added that the issue is rather close to the field of patent making it very confusing. “We do not see any sign of hope leading to the resolutions on those areas internationally”.
Mr. Uehara’s comments added fuel to the already outraged participants from Hawaii, Guam and other colonized states that are experiencing exploitation of their ‘fundamental humanity’ every day.
A University student from Guam Julian Agnon expressed concern that he did not want to witness a repeat of what has happened in Guam in other countries of the Pacific. He expressed disgust on the very limited level of understanding the developing world have towards the Indigenous peoples’.
A Hawaiian participant expressed the same grievances adding that the Hawaiian people have finally stood their grounds to fight the issue right through.
However, Papua New Guinea’s representative Ms Ilikomau Ali joined other Pacific Island representatives into co-orporating with one another by contributing towards the re-defining and fine tuning of the already existing Model Law that has been around for three years now on Traditional Knowledge and Expression of Culture. The Model Law has been drafted by legal experts and cultural ‘masters’ of the Pacific for possible adoption by each country.
Another Papua New Guinean observer from the East New Britain Provincial Government Nelson Paulias commended the Palaun Government in taking on the issue calling for members of the Festival Secretariat to invite the developing world representatives to come to a round table discussion with the people of the Pacific to put forward and further educate them with their grievances on this particular issue.
Meanwhile, the Festival of Arts Symposium will run throughout the duration of the festival on topics like; Natural History, Roles and Responsibilities of Traditional and Elected Leadership, Cultural Well-Being and Wealth derived from Natural Resources, Social Change and Impacts, Traditional Skills and Games, Education and Future of our Nations, Performing Arts, Traditional
Navigation, Visual Arts, Applied Arts and Crafts, Literature, Traditional Medicine and Healing, Culinary Arts and outsider perspective about the Festival of Pacific Arts.
Also attending the symposium are representatives from UNESCO, the South Pacific Commission (SPC), United States of American Indigenous Peoples and the World Media.
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