Jamaica joins Marrakesh Treaty to better aid visually impaired
/ Our Today
administrator
Jamaica marked a momentous occasion this week when the government officially signed on to the Marrakesh Treaty, which is a plus for the island’s visually impaired community.
The Treaty, which was adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2013, is designed to make it easier for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled to get access to reading materials, regardless of copyright issues.
In welcoming the move, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator Aubyn Hill says, “The Treaty represents a significant advancement in promoting inclusivity and access to knowledge for one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.”
He explains that the Treaty aims to address the global “book famine” that disproportionately affects individuals with visual or print impairments noting that the “book famine” for blind or visually impaired individuals is severe.
He emphasises that only one to seven per cent of published books are accessible to the visually impaired community. “So, we need to get that number rising to a much higher percentage, and this acceding to the Marrakesh Treaty and exempting people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print impaired from needing a copyright arrangement is a very good thing,” Senator Hill states.
In concluding his address at a Jamaica Information Service ‘Think Tank’ at the agency’s head office in Kingston on Wednesday, Minister Hill said his Ministry is “very happy to be the Ministry – Jamaica’s Business Ministry – to take this into the community and to make sure that legal impediment is now removed by us [acceding to] the Marrakesh Treaty”.
The 2001 Population and Housing Census conducted in Jamaica indicates that 163,206 citizens, or 6.3 per cent of the population, have a disability, with visual impairment being the most common type of disability.
Meanwhile, Executive Director, Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), Lilyclaire Bellamy, is hailing Jamaica accession to the Treaty as “very important and significant for Jamaica”, highlighting that Jamaica’s neighbours such as the United States and Canada are already parties to the Treaty and have several works in accessible format, which the island would now be able to obtain.
According to her, “it allows for cross-border exchange. So what that means is… we are allowed to import those books, and it’s not an infringement of copyright.”
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