UDHR, 1975 Declaration, and the Marrakesh Treaty

Why it matters

The international instruments in Domain Three set the legal and ethical expectations within which accessibility professionals operate. Understanding the difference between a declaration and a convention — and knowing which year each instrument was adopted — is a recurring exam theme. The Marrakesh Treaty is the most concrete copyright instrument in the BoK and directly affects accessible publishing and AT. (BoK p. 48)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, the UDHR established a global framework of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. It is a landmark statement of universal human dignity, but it does not specifically mention disability as a protected characteristic. (BoK p. 48)

Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (1975)

In 1975, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, the first international instrument specifically focused on the rights of people with disabilities. It affirmed equal civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights for people with disabilities, including the right to access rehabilitative services, education, employment, and social integration. (BoK p. 48)

The 1975 Declaration came before the shift to the social model was complete; it retained some language that later critics identified as paternalistic. It was nonetheless an important symbolic milestone on the path to the CRPD. (BoK p. 48)

The Marrakesh Treaty (2013)

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled was adopted under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2013. (BoK p. 50)

The book famine problem

Copyright law in most countries limits who may reproduce or adapt a published work. This created a severe shortage of books and periodicals in accessible formats — screen-reader-compatible e-books, Braille volumes, audio books, large-print editions. Estimates suggest that fewer than 10% of published works are available in formats that people with print disabilities can use. This shortage is called the book famine. (BoK p. 50)

What the treaty does

Marrakesh creates a mandatory copyright exception that allows authorized entities (such as libraries, schools, and disability organizations) to produce accessible-format copies of published works without seeking permission from the copyright holder, provided the copies are for use by people with print disabilities — those who cannot read standard printed material because of a visual impairment, a physical disability, a perceptual or reading disability, or any other impairment that prevents standard book use. (BoK p. 50)

Critically, the treaty also permits the import and export of accessible-format copies across national borders. Before Marrakesh, a Braille edition produced in one country could not legally be sent to a user in another country without securing separate copyright clearances in both countries. Marrakesh eliminates that barrier for qualifying works and qualifying recipients. (BoK p. 51)

Real-world example

A national library for the blind in Canada converts a newly published novel into both Braille and DAISY audio format under its domestic implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty. A user with low vision in Australia requests a copy through their country’s national library, which imports it under the treaty’s cross-border provision. Without Marrakesh, this transfer would have required separate copyright clearance from the publisher in each country — a process that often takes months or is simply refused.