Today Vision Australia celebrates a landmark decision that will make a huge difference for millions of people who are blind or have low vision worldwide.
At the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) diplomatic conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, delegates have agreed to sign a treaty that will permit cross-border sharing of accessible books both between organisations and directly from organisations to blind or print disabled individuals.
Vision Australia’s Maryanne Diamond, General Manager International and Stakeholder Relations, and Immediate Past President of the World Blind Union (WBU) led the WBU delegation at WIPO for the last five years.
We have worked extremely hard over many years with some wonderful people who so willingly assisted us get this landmark treaty. I thank each and every one of them for their commitment, hard work and support over this time,”
said Ms Diamond.
The Australian Government, particularly in the last couple of years, has been extremely supportive to achieving a good result and actively took part in all negotiations. I thank them for their work and for their understanding.
The WBU represents the 285 million persons in the world who are bind or have low vision. Over 80% live in the developing world and have less than 1% of books published available to them. Even in rich developed countries like Australia, there is only 5% available.
For people who are blind in Australia we will expect to see a huge increase in the books we can access and the sources they will come from,” says Ms Diamond.
The treaty will come into force three months after 20 states have ratified. To ensure a smooth process the WBU and Vision Australia urges the Australian Government to ratify this treaty as a matter of urgency.
View a YouTube clip of Maryanne Diamond, President of the World Blind Union (WBU), commenting on the negotiations for a new treaty to improve access to books for visually impaired persons (VIPs).
Visit the WIPO website's news section to find out more on the agreement reached.
Did you know?
Only 7% of published books are ever made accessible (in formats such as braille, audio and large print) in developed countries, and less than 1% in less developed countries. This is a “book famine”.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (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.