The ratification and implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty for visually impaired persons in the Arab Gulf States

Abstract

Visually impaired persons (VIP) have asked the international community to help end the “book famine” they face and increase the number of books available in accessible formats. After 30 years of negotiations, meetings and consultation between member states delegates, negotiators and non‐profit organizations, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted the VIP Treaty on 27 June 2013 in Marrakesh, Morocco, which entered into force on 30 September 2016. Until today, it is mostly developing countries that have ratified the Treaty and only the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embraced its principles among the Gulf States. This article studies the copyright system in the Arab Gulf States and examines the state's readiness for the adoption of the Treaty. It argues that without considering the cultural and legal implications that influence disability and visual impairment in these states ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty and amending copyright laws in the Gulf States will not alleviate the “book famine” for VIPs in these countries. This article proposes legal and policy recommendations to promote and facilitate accessibility to published works for VIPs that can be adopted in the Arab Gulf States and other developing countries.

IFLA’s role in the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty

“…According to the Marrakesh Treaty, it allows for the free and easy cross-border exchange of accessible copies of works. Bayan (2016, cited in Olwan, 2017: 184) argues that, in the Arabic world, there are very few books that are published in the Arabic language. As such, the cross-border exchange of accessible copies will be of no value to Arabic-speaking nations.…”

“…As such, the cross-border exchange of accessible copies will be of no value to Arabic-speaking nations. Olwan (2017) also notes that few businesses and non-profit organisations are able to convert these texts into accessible formats.…”

Deep Learning Driven Arabic Text to Speech Synthesizer for Visually Challenged People

“…The term 'Visually Impaired (VI)' denotes individuals with non-recoverable low vision or no vision [1]. Per a survey conducted earlier, 89% of visually-impaired persons live in less-developed nations, whereas nearly half are women.…”