MUSIC ICON STEVIE WONDER URGES UN FORUM TO ‘SIGN, SEAL, DELIVER’ TREATY FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED

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Date: 21 Jun 2013 14:00:00 -0400
Subject: MUSIC ICON STEVIE WONDER URGES UN FORUM TO 'SIGN, SEAL,
DELIVER' TREATY FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

MUSIC ICON STEVIE WONDER URGES UN FORUM TO 'SIGN, SEAL, DELIVER'
TREATY FOR VISUALLY IMPAIREDNew York, Jun 21 2013 2:00PMStevie Wonder
has appealed to more than 600 negotiators at a United Nations forum in
Marrakesh to finalize a new global treaty easing access to books for
blind, visually impaired, and other print disabled people – promising
to celebrate with them in Morocco when the agreement is concluded.

"Let's get this 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered (and) I'm Yours'," Mr.
Wonder <"http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2013/article_0014.html">said
to the tune of one of his biggest hits in a video statement to
delegates at the forum, convened by the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO).

"Do this and I will come to Marrakesh and we will celebrate together,"
added the legendary award-winning singer and songwriter, who has been
blind since shortly after birth.

A signed treaty will improve access for the blind, visually impaired,
and print disabled to published works in formats such as Braille,
large print text and audio books, according to a news release issued
by the Geneva-based WIPO. The beneficiaries will have better access to
novels, textbooks and other material that they can use for education
and enjoyment.

"We stand at the cusp of a momentous time in history," said Mr.
Wonder. "All of you – great minds representing governments around the
world – have the opportunity to right a wrong. You are in the final
sprint of a marathon that has spanned many years, but time is short
and there is still much more work to be done to complete this historic
treaty."

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said the objective of the
conference is a relatively simple and straightforward one – "to
alleviate the book famine that causes over 300 million visually
impaired persons, the majority of them in developing countries, to be
excluded from access to over 90 per cent of published works."

That objective, he said, would be achieved by establishing an enabling
legal framework that will facilitate the production of accessible
formats and their exchange across borders.

"Negotiators have the task of, on the one hand, designing a workable
system that will ensure that accessible formats can be produced and
exchanged across borders around the world in a simple and easy manner
and, on the other hand, providing assurances to authors and publishers
that that system will not expose their assets to misuse in parallel
markets that are not intended to serve the visually impaired and the
print disabled. Their success in finding the right balance will ensure
the success of the treaty."

Negotiators have already made great headway in several negotiating
sessions since the first proposals for a draft treaty were originally
submitted in May 2009.

A WIPO survey in 2006 found that fewer than 60 countries have
limitations and exceptions clauses in their copyright laws that make
special provision for visually impaired persons, for example, for
Braille, large print or digitized audio versions of copyrighted texts.

In 2010, Mr. Wonder – a strong supporter of the treaty – appealed to
negotiators to speed up their work "to end the information deprivation
that continues to keep the visually impaired in the dark," and urged
negotiators to put ideological differences aside.

"The time has come. Today. Not tomorrow. Today. The world's blind and
visually impaired are counting on you. I am counting on you. Don't let
me down. But most of all, please don't let them down. This is our
legacy. Your gift to future generations," he urged.

"So, let us at last finalize this new agreement and open the doors to
the world's written treasures, moving toward a future where there are
no barriers to the expansion of knowledge and the enjoyment of
culture. Even for the visually impaired."

The two-week Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate
Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons
with Print Disabilities will conclude on 28 June.Jun 21 2013 2:00PM
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