[nfbmi-talk] this is disgraceful

[joe harcz Comcast]

Obama Administration Stalls Blind Rights Treaty For Another Year

 

WASHINGTON -- Delegates from the United States and the European Union have managed to delay

a key human rights treaty for the blind

until at least 2013. Talks to secure a deal ended on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland, without agreement on draft language.

 

The U.S. and European blockade is supported by large publishing companies; developing nations and advocates for people living with disabilities object.

 

"I guess we haven't quite got there," said Maryanne Diamond, president of the World Blind Union, in

a video interview

with Jamie Love of Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit group focused on information access. "So on one level, we're disappointed ... There is some

good stuff in the text, but it isn't ready yet and there isn't agreement on it."

 

Dozens of groups representing the blind had hoped to finalize a global agreement providing that reading materials be made accessible to blind people, including

through Braille and audiobook formats. Works used by the visually impaired are far more costly to create and distribute than traditional print publications

and have a much smaller market. Although many nations already have copyright laws exempting the producers of such works from having to pay high royalties

to publishers, poor countries still have very limited resources to produce such works and thus have extremely limited libraries for the blind. An international

treaty would allow wealthier nations, like the United States, to share works with other countries.

 

By focusing on intellectual property issues rather than government subsidies, the treaty would help the blind without costing governments any money.

 

But

during 10 days of negotiations

under the auspices of a World Intellectual Property Organization panel, the U.S. delegation

has opposed

any deal that would produce an enforceable treaty, instead pushing for an informal slate of policy recommendations. Advocates for the blind and several

poor countries have pointed out that the United States, which houses the largest libraries of blind-accessible publications, currently has no plans to

adopt any such policy recommendations absent a formal treaty.

 

"At this point in time, we know clearly that everyone in the developing world wants a treaty, and the U.S. and the European Union don't want a treaty,"

Rahul Cherian

told Love.

 

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