Delivering for youth requires copyright reform: KR21 signs on to statement
26 April 2022
Knowledge Rights 21, alongside other organisations focused on the right to education and research in a digital age, has signed onto a joint statement for World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, highlighting the need for reforms to benefit youth.
Everyone has a fundamental right to education, research and cultural participation. These are particularly important for young people, whose future is shaped by the possibilities they have to learn, study and innovate.
Copyright laws can help or hinder this process, depending on how well they enable the professionals and institutions who support education and research to do their jobs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately made clear that too often laws remain unsuited to a digital world. However, this has only shed a new light on problems that have been sadly familiar to many in the library field and beyond for years.
The Knowledge Rights 21 Programme therefore works to build the case, and capacity, for change to copyright laws that enable libraries and others to deliver the support for education and research needed to help all young people today to realise their potential.
The statement released today highlights this need, reminding IP policy makers across the board of the need to ensure that they need to bear in mind the needs of youth when taking decisions, from the national to the global levels.
