When Framing Meets Law: Using Human Rights as a Practical Instrument to Facilitate Access to Medicines in Developing Countries

Abstract

Over the past decade, the debate about the relationship between access to medicines and human rights has, to a large extent, come to define politics of intellectual property. This article describes how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking to draw attention to the potentially adverse effects of patents for pharmaceutical products for public health, particularly for people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), not only reshaped the international debate about the relationship between intellectual property rights and access to medicines by framing it as a human rights issue, but have also utilised the concrete human rights principles enshrined in national constitutional law as a practical tool in their campaigns, often to far-reaching effect.