Posts by Émilie Grenier

Émilie Grenier Emilie Grenier specializes in Human Rights and works currently at the grass roots level to lobby for the recognition and the protection of these rights for the most vulnerable populations of Canada. She has had the pleasure, since 2009, to be working as the Legal and Policy analyst of Quebec Native Women Association (QNW) that has been fighting since 1974 for the recognition of equal rights for all Aboriginal women in Quebec and Canada, both legislatively and constitutionally. She now also holds the position of International Relations Coordinator at QNW. Emilie obtained her Master of Laws LLM degree in International Law and a bachelor’s degree in International Law and International Relations at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Emilie Grenier se spécialise dans le domaine des droits humains et œuvre présentement sur le terrain afin de faire reconnaître ces droits pour les populations les plus démunies du Canada. Elle travaille, depuis 2009, en tant qu’analyste politique et juridique au sein de l’Association Femmes autochtones du Québec qui lutte depuis 1974 afin de faire reconnaître les droits des femmes autochtones, notamment à l’égalité au Québec et au Canada. Elle occupe également le poste de Coordinatrice à l’international par intérim pour cet organisme. Emilie est titulaire d'une Maîtrise en droit international (LLM) et d'un Baccalauréat en droit international et relations internationales de l’Université du Québec à Montréal.

Special Contribution: A New Protocol To Stop Biopiracy: Worth a Standing Ovation?

 

Nailed it: Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto raises the hammer to end the COP10 conference in Nagoya. KYODO PHOTO, Japan Times Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010

On Saturday morning, October 28 2010 the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted in the midst of a standing ovation by the Parties present.

This Protocol is intended to comply with the 3rd objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources with the custodians of biodiversity. This Protocol is being hailed by delegates and nongovernmental organizations as one of the most important measures the world has ever taken against biopiracy.

Indeed, for many decades, pharmaceutical and cosmetics firms, and the agricultural and biotech industries have manufactured everyday products (drugs, toothpaste, makeup, etc.) consumed in our developed countries using plants or organisms from such places as the tropical rain forests of Latin America and Southeast Asia without acknowledging their origin or sharing the profits with Indigenous peoples and local communities whose knowledge made the development of these products possible[1]. Even worse, companies have patented over the last decades traditional products that were developed with the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities without…

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