WIPO headquarters in Geneva. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod/Wikimedia Commons/CC by-sa
Yesterday, Friday July 15, China blocked the accreditation to the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of seven representatives of the Wikimedia movements (which support Wikipedia and related projects), from France, Italy , Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Argentina and South Africa. Pretext invoked – no other country opposed their coming -, these affiliates “were complicit in the dissemination of disinformation”.
Two years of blockage
In 2020 and 2021 already, recalls Wikimedia France, China had refused that the Wikimedia foundation, the American non-profit organization which hosts Wikipedia and related projects (Wikimedia Commons media library, Wiktionary etc.), obtain observer status from the PMOI.
Wikimedia France points out that the affiliates refused by China “had applied for permanent observer status with the WIPO, the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) which defines global political standards in terms of copyright. , patents and trademarks. Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Projects rely on open and flexible copyright policies to ensure that knowledge can be accessed and shared freely on their platforms.”
Support from many organizations
Several dozen organizations from various countries, including branches of Creative Commons, Internet Archive, Access Now, the American Library Association, issued a statement supporting the arrival as observers at the GA of representatives of the Wikimedia Foundation and of its seven independent chapters and ask the other delegations [que la Chine] to do their best for the admission of those refused.
“Many signatories to this letter have enriched the discussions and contributed to the debates at WIPO for many years. The Wikimedia Foundation and its independent affiliates are active and respected stakeholders around the world, especially on copyright policies. Their participation would bring a unique and underrepresented perspective to WIPO discussions. Not accepting them as observers is unacceptable.”
In 2020, the request of the Wikimedia Foundation to be admitted as an observer to the PMOI had also been rejected by opposition from China. Among its national chapters, the foundation counts Wikimedia Taiwan, an independent democracy that mainland China considers part of its territory.
The Chinese delegation to the PMOI then objected: “There is reason to believe that this foundation is carrying out political activities through its member organizations that could undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State. .”
Voting at the United Nations
The open letter from the organizations supporting Wikimedians asks that this application for observer membership of the American foundation at the PMOI be granted. Among the organizations accredited as observers of the Organization, we find Creative Commons Corporation, the Free Software Foundation Europe, or even, on the side of proprietary software publishers, the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
Next week, the Wikimedia Foundation will apply for accreditation to the Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) of the United Nations, along with five other organizations, all of which have been rejected several times by states such as Russia, China and others. non-democratic countries (Belarus, Nicaragua…). But after blockages by a committee of Ecosoc where these countries could play the procedure, this time it is the 54 members of Ecosoc who will vote on these requests.
Read also
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China Blocks Wikimedia Foundation From Obtaining Observer Status at PMOI – September 23, 2020
Tiananmen: China censors “big yellow duck” and other subversive expressions – 6 June 2013