Thank you, Mr President.

Let me join others in congratulating Gabon on an excellent Presidency and wish Ghana all the best for the month of November. I thank High Commissioner Grandi for his briefing and offer congratulations on the recent extension of his term by the General Assembly.

The United Kingdom commends the tireless efforts of UNHCR, as well as other humanitarian agencies, NGOs and host-nations, for everything they do to support those forced to flee their homes.

Climate change, conflict and the long-term fallout from the COVID19 pandemic have led to shocking and unprecedented levels of displacement as we’ve heard today. Over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. More than 100 million forcibly displaced.

With this context in mind, we echo others’ horror at President Putin’s latest atrocities in Ukraine that are adding substantially to the humanitarian caseload: strikes on civilian targets, ahead of winter, serve no purpose than to spread terror.

And as we’ve heard from numerous interventions this morning, this unprovoked aggression has already displaced more than 14 million people and left almost 18 million in need of humanitarian assistance. It is also causing food insecurity across the planet.

The crisis in Ukraine is but one example of the need to address the drivers of displacement – the UN, with member state support, needs to focus on solutions to crises. From Ethiopia to Syria to Myanmar, we owe it to the millions of refugees and displaced, to find practical, long-term political answers to these prolonged crises.

Furthermore, this Council needs to continue to ensure that actors on the ground meet their responsibilities – this means adherence to International Humanitarian Law, ensuring that refugee returns are voluntary, safe and dignified, and allowing humanitarian workers to safely carry out their work unhindered. And in this context, the United Kingdom supports the initiative of the US and Ireland to secure a horizontal sanctions exemption for humanitarian workers.

Finally, the United Kingdom is taking life-saving action. The UK International Development Strategy sets out our long-standing commitment to life-saving humanitarian work. We intend to contribute over $3 billion to humanitarian needs, globally, over the next three years.

As we look ahead to the Global Refugee Forum next year, this Council needs to place the plight of refugees and forcibly displaced at the centre of its decision-making. Without long-term solutions, the humanitarian caseload will only continue to escalate.

Thank you.

Initially, the 100 most notable UK IP cases will be added, with provision for the database to be regularly updated.

By making information about judicial decisions more accessible across jurisdictions worldwide, the WIPO database aims strengthen and inform courts’ decision-making processes in IP cases. It also helps identify where national approaches to common IP questions converge or contrast, making it a powerful tool for research and policy development and a valuable resource for attorneys.

The UK’s membership comes at a time when demand for its judicial expertise continues to grow internationally, with the UK recently enjoying success deploying senior IP judges to China to share best practice and insights with counterparts.

It is hoped that the UK’s participation in the WIPO Lex-Judgments database will be a highly pragmatic tool to help spread UK practice and expertise with global partners, while also helping to manage demand on UK judges’ time for international engagements.

The initiative is supported by the Right Honourable Lord Justice Birss (Lord Justice of Appeal), and the Honourable Justice Meade (High Court Judge, Chancery Division).

The Intellectual Property Office’s interim CEO Adam Williams said:

This is a fantastic moment in the UK’s IP timeline. Our IP courts have a global reputation for delivering high-quality judgments, that establish precedent or persuasive interpretation of IP law. Our presence in WIPO’s Lex-Judgments database will showcase important UK IP judgments to a multilateral audience.  This will help highlight and share UK best practice, providing insight into how UK courts tackle complex disputes.

We hope that alongside those from other WIPO members, the UK’s contributions will provide assistance and guidance, helping to support a stable and well-functioning global IP system.

Marco Aleman, WIPO Assistant Director General, IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector said.

WIPO Lex-Judgments supports cross-border awareness of the leading issues in IP disputes in a rapidly evolving global innovation landscape.

Thanks to this agreement with the UK Intellectual Property Office and The National Archives, we are further expanding this resource to 28 jurisdictions and over 1,000 freely accessible judgments, allowing judges, lawyers, students and others to better understand the latest jurisprudential developments in key IP issues.

You can access the WIPO Lex-Judgments database.

• the UK’s membership follows the signing of an MoU between WIPO and the UK IPO in Geneva that will govern the sharing of UK judgments data with WIPO
• the initial list of 100 most notable judgments was compiled by The Honourable Mr Justice Meade (High Court Judge, Chancery Division). The initiative is also supported by the Right Honourable Lord Justice Birss (Lord Justice of Appeal)
• UK Court judgments are not routinely stored on a government owned database. The IPO has worked successfully with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to influence the development of a new national database, which provides an appropriate resource to share judgments with WIPO
• the new database of all England & Wales court judgments was launched alongside www.legislation.gov.uk on the 19th April 2022. This is a critical step towards a more open, transparent and equitable system that demonstrates HMG’s data-driven reforms. It also demonstrates the positive impact of the IPO on wider HMG services