Pop legend calls for action

• Pages: 14-15

American pop legend Stevie Wonder added star

quality to this year ’s meetings of WIPO Assemblies.

The award-winning musician made an impas-

sioned plea for action by the O rganization’s 184

member states, to improve acces s to published

works for tho se living with visual impairment.

Estimates suggest that only five percent of all pub-

lished work s are available in formats accessible to

the estimated 314 million people around the

world that live with such disabilities.

Stevie Wonder is a prolific singer-songwriter with

49 top-40 hits, 32 number-1 singles and over 100

million unit sales.

In an interview available on WIPO’s YouTube

Channel, the ar tist spoke about his inspiration: “life

itself is what drives me,” he said, “there’s always

something new out there.” On the importance of

copyright to musicians, he said, “I don’t want to

imagine a world without copyright protection…

this is our livelihood.” Asked if he could imagine a

world without music, he responded, “I can’t, I won’t

and I hope there never is.”

In his capacity as United Nations Messenger for

Peace, the singer-songwrite r, who lost his s ight at

an early age, launched a “declaratio n of freedom

for people wit h disabilities.” H e said he was in-

spired by a desire to bring “ho pe and lig ht to the

millions around the worl d who live with disabili-

ties” and specifical ly the blind or visua lly impaired.

“It’s… a plan that wi ll empower the independ -

ence of people with disabil ities by pro viding

them wit h the tools to learn an d grow,” he said.

“Through your legislative efforts,” he told delegates,

“incentives can be created to advance the blind

and visually disabled toward the promise of a bet-

ter life.” H e underscored that access to “ books on

science, medicine, history and p hilosophy” would

help young people with disabilities “to be fully ed -

ucated and to one day live out their dream to be a

prime minister, doctor, writer or teacher.”

He called on the intern ational communi ty to take

urgent action “to declare a state of emerge ncy,

and end the inform ation depriva tion that c ontin-

ues to k eep the visual ly impaired in the dark,”

adding “the u ntapped genius of the 300 plus mil-

lion who hav e a visual disabil ity are in need of o ur

love and action; tod ay, not tomorrow, but today.”

Recognizi ng the import ance of copyrig ht to au-

thors and musicians, Stev ie Wonder urged pol icy-

makers to devel op solution s that would ease ac-

cess to copyr ighted mater ials for people with

print disab ilities. “While I know tha t it is critical not

to ac t to the detriment of the authors who labor

to create t he great works that enlighten and

nourish our minds, he arts and so uls, we must de-

velop a protocol that allows the easy import and

export of copyright materials so that people with

print disabili ties c an joi n the mains tream o f the

literate world,” he said. “There are many pr oposals

on the table t hat will create a safe clearin ghouse

for the exchange and translation of books; pleas e

work tow ards a consen sus.”

“Unlock the blinder s that block accessibilit y of

translati ng book s into readable formats for peo-

ple with print disabilities,” th e sing er urge d; “our

work is not done.” He en couraged policymak ers

“to put ide ological differenc es aside and come u p

with a practi cal solution,”to give pr int-disabled

persons t he “tools to t hink their way o ut of pover-

ty and the dark ness that is created when the

mind d oes not ha ve access to something as sim-

ple, but as powerfu l, as a boo k.”

Stevie Wonder t eased member stat es, saying

“please work i t out or I’ll have to write a song

about wh at you didn’t d o.” On a more se rious

POP LEGEND CALLS

FOR ACTION

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Photos: WIPO/E. Berrod