Program Areas

To Give or Not To Give Patents to Plant Breeders?
18/08/2019

Different views were presented at a seminar on Tuesday on the Plant Breeder Rights (PBR) Bill 2012, pending in the National Assembly (NA) since March 2012, and the impact of genetically modified (GM) seeds on indigenous crop varieties in Pakistan. The seminar titled ‘Biodiversity Under Threat: Traditional Knowledge and Plant Breeders Rights Bill,’ was held at the HRCP office with Sajjad Bhutta, the Director General of the Intellectual Property...

Software Piracy in Pakisan
18/08/2019

According to a recent Business Software Alliance survey, 57 percent of the global computer users confess to pirating software. Yes, you heard it right, 57 percent. It is hard to believe, especially right here in Pakistan, that just 57 percent people are software pirates.  Studies conducted since 2003 to 2012 by BSA and IDC have shown that throughout the last decade, software piracy rate in Pakistan has remained around 86% without any significant...

CIVILIAN VICTIMS OF ARMED CONFLICTS IN PAKISTAN: WHAT CAN WE DO?
18/08/2019

The frequency of terrorist attacks in Pakistan has dampened their shock value. Sadly, it is not the news of the attack, but the body count of the dead and injured that captures the headlines and stir the national conscience from slumber. Contrary to news hype on the terrorist attacks in the media and government’s robust defense to counter them, the information on the conditions of civilian victims of terror is pushed to the margins. The plight of...

NGOs Demand Reconsideration of Plant Breeders' Rights Bill
04/08/2019

Demanding that Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill 2010 should not be passed in haste as it needed more time to be debated by the stakeholders concerned, the civil society organizations on Wednesday asked the government to postpone the bill and to let the new National Assembly after the next general elections to consider it. This was said in a seminar “Plant Breeder’s Rights (PBR) Bill 2010” held by the Centre for Culture and Development (C2D),...

Intellectual Property Rights in Pakistan: Problems & Prospects
04/08/2019

World Intellectual Property Day (World IP Day)  is celebrated every year on April 26, to raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life and to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe. World IP Day offers an exciting chance each year to join with others around the globe, to highlight, discuss and demonstrate the importance of...

World Day for Cultural Diversity
04/08/2019

With the support of UNESCO and CKU, C2D organized a panel discussion/ dialogue on The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development in partnership with NCA, Rawalpindi. The dialogue was held at NCA, Rawalpindi Library, followed by a paintings exhibition of students at NCA, exhibition Gallery, on May 31, 2016. It was well attended dialogue and the participants showed a keen interest in the subject and speeches given by the panelists of...

Bhuddist Prayer Ceremony at Julian Monastery Taxila
04/08/2019

A Buddhist prayer ceremony was held at Julian Monastery in Taxila. The Ghandhara Art and Culture Association undertook the prayer ceremony on 21st October, 2012, attended by leading politicians, diplomats, and civil society. C2D team documented the event and carried out its photographic and video coverage as...

Asia Peace Film Festival
04/08/2019

The Asia Peace Film Festival (APFF), established in 2016, as a consortium of 10 film festivals of Asia, with the support of Center for Culture and Development (c2D), which uses the power of the moving image to further the cause of peace in Asia. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has reciprocated the need to promote film, the most powerful form of communication in our world today, to aid the process of peace building in...