infoJustice

Kakooza explores the progress Uganda has made in implementing the objectives of the 2013 Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled (“Marrakesh Treaty”), one year after it ratified and domesticated it. While the Ugandan legal framework reflects the same human rights principles as enshrined in the Marrakesh Treaty, the reality of the current regulatory status in the country reflects otherwise. For instance, there is hardly any infrastructure or research materials in the country catering to persons living with disabilities or facilitating their right to research. Visually impaired researchers in Uganda have an insufficient or inadequate supportive mechanism of skilled personnel to help them in gathering and interpreting their research and a 2021 report from the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda shows that there are hardly any teaching aids for the blind which makes it difficult for children with disabilities to get quality education. The Ugandan Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act of 2006 does not provide easy access to braille material in the same way that a non-blind person would have access to research material that does not belong to them. The writer recommends that the Ugandan government address the inefficient regulatory framework in fulfilling the objective of the Marrakesh Treaty such as introducing domestic legislation that addresses technological protection measures for enjoying the exceptions provided in the Treaty for visually impaired or blind persons. Read the paper here [LINK].