LETTER: Marrakesh Treaty misrepresented
The treaty provides a floor, not a ceiling, on the rights of people with disabilities
In a recent article Mpuka Radinku of the Publishing Association of SA claims the Copyright Bill awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature “does not meet the terms” of the Marrakesh Treaty — a treaty aimed at making more books available to the blind and visually impaired “Copyright Amendment Bill needs to comply with Marrakesh Treaty”, (April 24). This is a remarkable misrepresentation of the facts. Radinku’s core argument is that the “treaty does not cover other kinds of disabilities as proposed in the Copyright Amendment Bill”. But nowhere in the treaty is there a restriction on extending access rights to people with other disabilities. Indeed, other treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as our own constitution, arguably require such extension. In any case, including people with other disabilities is an optional extra SA would be right to make use of. We have also noted arguments that the bill does not comply with the treaty because...
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