Are the UNs richest members committed to access to knowledge for all?
A key component of the Development Agenda proposals is a call for a Treaty on Access to Knowledge. An ‘A2K’ treaty is important for libraries since our business is to enable people to find and use knowledge and information. This ability is essential to development and relies on exceptions and limitations to copyright. In the last decade international treaties, supranational directives from the European Union, national legislation and the terms of some Free Trade Agreements have created a trend towards the monopolisation and privatisation of information by eroding the exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in the digital environment. Fair access to information for all is essential to nurture education and stimulate innovation. A treaty is necessary to redress the balance and establish an international framework setting out the norms by which copyright protects user rights while maintaining adequate protection for rightsholders.
