# 2280
Indonesia has been playing hardball with bird flu virus samples now for about 18 months, releasing only a handful to the WHO, and only when it suited them. They are claiming property rights to the virus, and demand financial or `other' compensation for their use.
The silence over the past few months regarding human cases in that country, and their failure to make follow up reports to the OIE about animal cases for the past two years, only accents their recalcitrance.
Indonesia is playing a most dangerous game. The H5N1 virus is rife in that country, and the odds of a dangerous mutation appearing in that nation are not insignificant.
While there may be inequities in the current GISN (Global Influenza Surveillance Network) system, the lives of millions of people are potentially endangered over what is essentially a civil law matter.
It would, in this humble blogger's opinion, make far more sense for Indonesia to resume sending samples to the WHO while simultaneously filing a grievance with the International Court of Justice.
Indonesia could defend their claim for property rights before the World Court while scientists worked to prevent a pandemic. A win-win situation.
Not likely to happen, I know.
In November the WHO will hold an intergovernmental meeting where, once again, Indonesia's demands will be discussed. As stated in this Chinaview news article, Health Minister Supari is hopeful that organization will see the issue her way.
Indonesia hopes agreement on bird flu virus specimen to be settled
www.chinaview.cn
2008-09-05 10:00:08
JAKARTA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia hopes negotiations on the material transfer agreement for bird flu virus specimen could be finished in the inter-governmental meeting of WHO members in November, health minister Siti Fadillah Supari said.
Indonesia hopes the agreement could be made simple but able to accommodate the interests of the developing countries, Antara news agency on Friday quoted the minister as saying.
"We wish our property right to the virus would receive recognition and we had access to information on where the virus had been taken to and how it had been handled," she said here on Thursday.
She said the agreement must also cover deals on benefit sharing both financially or otherwise that come from the result of researches on specimen sent by affected countries.
Talks on mechanism of avian flu virus sharing was started early in 2007 after the Indonesian government protested the unfair mechanism of virus sharing and exchange of the Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN).
Since then several rounds of meeting had been held by members of the World Health Organization affected by the H5N1 virus aimed at formulating the framework of a fair, transparent and equal virus sharing mechanism.
Indonesia is the bird flu hardest hit country with more than 100 people killed by the H5N1 virus.
