Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697630473632.pdf (Australia)
Australian Cross Disability Alliance c/-Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) PO Box 407, Lenah Valley, Tasmania 7008 Ph: 0438535123 E: chris@wwda.org.au 2 July 2015 Mr Wyatt Roy MP Chair, Joint Standing Committee on Treaties PO Box 6021 Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Via Email: jsct@aph.gov.au Dear Mr. Roy and Committee Members, Re: Consideration of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for People who are Blind, Visually Impaired or otherwise Print Disabled (Marrakesh, 27 June 2013) The Australian Cross Disability Alliance (ACDA) is writing to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, to express our unequivocal support for the ratification by Australia of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for People who are Blind, Visually Impaired or otherwise Print Disabled (Marrakesh, 27 June 2013) - which Australia signed at the Headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization ('WIPO') in Geneva on 23 June 2014.
The ACDA is an alliance of national disabled people’s organisations (DPO’s)1 in Australia.

The key purpose of the ACDA is to promote, protect and advance the human rights and freedoms of people with disability in Australia by working collaboratively on areas of shared interests, purposes and strategic priorities and opportunities.
The ACDA works within and from, a human rights framework and approach, recognising and respecting that the international human rights normative framework, including the international human rights treaties and instruments to which Australia is a party, provide the human rights framework to advance the rights of people with disability.
The from all backgrounds and ACDA represents circumstances, and is the recognised coordinating point between Government/s and other stakeholders, for consultation and engagement with people with disability in Australia.
interests of all people with disability, the The ACDA is firmly of the view that ratification and implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty by Australia is critical in facilitating governments and other duty-bearers to meet our obligations and responsibilities under the human rights treaties to which Australia is a party, most notably the 1 ‘Disabled people’s organisations’ (DPOs) are organisations that are made up of people with disability and governed and led by people with disability.
1 Treaties tabled on 16 June 2015Submission 2 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)2 [particularly at Articles: 19, 2, 4, 9, 21, 24].
In addition, implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty would also provide a key mechanism in assisting all Australian governments to give effect to the vision, purpose, and six key outcome areas of the ten year agreed National Disability Strategy (NDS),3 particularly the following priority objectives: • Increase participation of people with disability, their families and carers in the social, cultural, religious, recreational and sporting life of the community.4 • Remove societal barriers preventing people with disability from participating as equal citizens.5 • Focus on reducing the disparity in educational outcomes for people with disability and others.6 • Ensure that government reforms and initiatives for early childhood, education, training and skills development are responsive to the needs of people with disability.7 Implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty would not only provide and facilitate equitable access to information for people who are print disabled, but would accelerate addressing the substantial barriers that many people with disability experience in accessing accessible print literature.
Whilst there is no question that people who are blind and vision impaired will benefit greatly from implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty, the benefits to people with disability with other impairments which limit their access to accessible print literature, cannot be overstated.
The ACDA sees implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty as providing enormous benefit to infants, children and young people – particularly those with reading disability, or indeed, those with any impairment and/or barrier to them accessing accessible print literature.

The benefits the Treaty would provide to developing meaningful inclusive education practices, and to ensuring that all children are able to realise their educational potential, are immense.
As highlighted by the World Blind Union, this will be important for books in languages that cross national boundaries, like English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Bangla/Bengali, languages Indonesian, Swahili and so on.
In a nation where cultural diversity is high and increasing, the production of accessible documents in formats with the capacity for translation into other languages is significant for the Australian Aboriginal and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled and Non English speaking.
For example, along with the CRPD (at Articles 24, 19 and 9), the current Draft Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s)8 clearly reflect the role of education, and equal access to information, as vital to achieving sustainable development, ending disability discrimination and gender inequality.

Goal 4 (of the 17 suggested SDG’s), which focuses on ‘Education’ articulates the goal as: ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
It is underscored by 10 key actions, including for example: Ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.
In addition, at SDG 16, which focuses on ‘Inclusive societies and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions’, one of the key action areas to achieve this goal is: 2 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ([2008] ATS 12) 3 The National Disability Strategy (NDS) was formally endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in February 2011.
It is the ‘foundation of Australia’s work to advance disability rights’ and sets out a national policy framework for guiding Australian governments to meet their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The NDS sets out goals and objectives under six areas of mainstream and disability-specific public policy, and is supported by three Implementation Plans developed over its ten-year life span.
For more information, see: http://www.dss.gov.au/our- responsibilities/disability-and-carers/program-services/government-international/national-disability-strategy 4 NDS Outcome Area 1: Inclusive and accessible communi ies; Objective 1.

5 NDS Outcome Area 2: Rights protection, justice and legislation; Objective 2.

6 NDS Outcome Area 5: Learning and skills; Objective 2.

7 NDS Outcome Area 5: Learning and skills; Objective 3.
8 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1579SDGs%20Proposal.pdf 2 Treaties tabled on 16 June 2015Submission 2 Treaties tabled on 16 June 2015Submission 2