Discussion Report 20 Vijaya Venkataraman- Knowledge as a Right
From KM4Dev Wiki
Title of Session
Knowledge as a Right
Convenor
Vijaya Venkataraman
Participants
Marc, Jane, Sabrina, Dorine, Kate, Juliette, Anne, Nadia , Jess and Vijaya
Key Discussion Points
We tried to navigate the terrain of knowledge as a right and looked at its various dimensions:
- People's right to access and use information and knowledge -disclosure mechanisms to strengthen accountability and transparency
- People's right to protect their knowledge esp indigenous and traditional knowledge - legal instruments to protect against exploitation eg biopiracy
- Mechanisms for benefit sharing of such knowledge
- Copyright and Copy left
Example of Prolinnova Copy Left statement (Word document)
- Accountability issues in knowledge generation - extractive vs participatory method
- Knowledge as a right anchored in the larger group of human rights e.g livelihoods, access to basic services
- Right to knowledge seems to be a negotiated process
- Promoting right to knowledge can start with one self, one's organization , empowering ones constituency and then the larger context progressively
- Tools, techniques and legal instruments including international conventions to promote knowledge as a right - both for access/ use and protection
- NGO Code of Good Practice, look at the website and follow the link http://www.hivcode.org
