[Nfbf-l] Treaty for Blind people will allow access to more books! If USA ...

[Alan Dicey]

European Blind Union Press release
Paris, November 26, 2012
WIPO Negotiations Treaty for Blind people
Talks in the balance: EU backs treaty leaving USA isolated
Geneva, 25.11.2012 - A four year UN negotiation on a new World Intellectual 
Property Organization (WIPO) treaty for people who are blind or have other 
print disabilities hangs in the balance. Will the world seize the 
opportunity to make it legal for blind people to share books across borders?

WBU delegates attended the negotiations which took place between 19 and 23 
November in Geneva.
WBU said that negotiators from all parts of the world worked hard on the 
treaty in SCCR25 and they welcomed this. WBU delegates were also cheered by 
the EU declaration on the first day of the session that it is now willing to 
back a binding treaty. The EU had vehemently opposed a treaty not long ago, 
so this is a very significant result of the advocacy of users and the 
European Parliament on this matter.

Dan Pescod, who leads WBU's European campaign for the treaty, explained:
"We have campaigned for years with hundreds of members of the European 
Parliament to get EU backing for a treaty. This is a significant and welcome 
step forward, but the EU needs now to ensure it supports the human rights of 
blind people to access information. It should do this by negotiating a 
simple and workable treaty."

The USA delegation still has not pronounced the word "treaty" at these
negotiations. It is now the only major negotiator not to do so. WBU
pointed out this fact on the last day of the meeting in their closing
remarks.
Maryanne Diamond, leader of the WBU delegation, commented:
"I had to point out the omission of the word "treaty" from the warm words of 
the US head of delegation. The USA has had time decide its position on a 
treaty- it is now high time it made its support clear".

With the WIPO "Extraordinary General Assembly" in three week's time tasked 
with agreeing the nature of the new law (treaty or non-binding soft law), 
the nature of that law is a pressing concern for disability activists. 
Historically, WIPO only deals in treaties to protect publishers' rights. WBU 
is urging negotiators to afford them the same level of protection for the 
human rights of blind people.

Some negotiators, including a few EU member states, still seem to be pushing 
issues which deal more with rights holder concerns than those of the blind 
and print disabled people this treaty is supposed to serve.


Rahul Cherian, from Indian WBU member Inclusive Planet, said:
"The objective of this treaty must be that of helping blind and print 
disabled people to get accessible format books, especially in developing 
countries. To achieve this goal, it must be workable, simply worded and 
effective for blind and print disabled people and their organizations to 
use. The heart of the treaty is cross-border sharing of works. We will push 
hard to ensure that the provisions on this matter are clear and simple."

Chris Friend, head of WBU's Right to Read campaign, added:
"We need those provisions to clearly permit cross-border sharing of 
accessible books both between organisations and directly from organisations 
to blind or print disabled individuals. We reject complicated requirements 
for checks on whether the books are commercially available. Such procedures 
would sacrifice the usability of the treaty on the altar of publisher 
reassurance."
Friend further commented:
"We are hopeful that the negotiations will still lead to a binding and 
useful treaty in 2013. The goodwill exists to get the job done. The momentum 
of the recent negotiations must not be lost."

Background

An end to the "book famine"

Even in 2012, blind people and others living with a print disability such as 
those with dyslexia still have very limited access to books. Only some 7% of 
published books are ever made accessible (in formats such as Braille, audio 
and large print) in the richest countries, and less than 1% in poorer ones. 
This is a "book famine".

An international treaty for blind people
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) makes treaties and other 
international laws on copyright
Back in 2009 the World Blind Union, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay proposed a 
WIPO treaty to help relieve the book famine in which fewer than 1% of books 
are published accessibly in developing countries, and only some 7% in the 
most developed.

Briefly, the new treaty would:
Allow specialist organizations to make accessible copies of books in all 
signatory countries
Make it legal to send accessible books across national borders
Still respect copyright law: it is not an attack on publishers!
Make more books available for blind people
About WBU

The World Blind Union (WBU) is the internationally recognized organization, 
representing the 285 million blind and partially sighted persons in 190 
member countries.  We are the Voice of the Blind, speaking to governments 
and international bodies on issues concerning blindness and visual 
impairments in conjunction with our members. For further information, please 
visit:

www.worldblindunion.org

Contacts

Chris Friend, Chair, WBU right to read campaign
cfriend at sightsavers.org
+44 7919 552 170

Dan Pescod, Vice Chair, WBU right to read campaign
Dan.pescod at rnib.org.uk
+44 207 391 2009

_______________________________________________
With Best Regards,
Alan Dicey
Miami, Florida
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