International organizations: UNESCO announces launch of anti-piracy website

April, 23 is the World Book and Copyright Day. It is called to promote distribution of knowledge, protect intellectual property and encourage different forms of expression of cultural diversity. The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, reminded on the necessity of protection of creativity and announced the launch of the “World Anti-Piracy Observatory (WAPO)”.  

“In the light of the emergence of new forms of books, of changes in the design, production and access to contents of books, it is urgent to recall that there can be no book development without respect for copyright,” the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, said in her message.

She announced that UNESCO recently established the “World Anti-Piracy Observatory (WAPO)”, a free on-line Internet platform that provides information on anti-piracy measures and policies implemented by Member States. “The Observatory fills in the existing information gap by presenting data that up until now was mostly scattered or simply unavailable,” explains Petya Tocharova, UNESCO copyright specialist.

The Observatory platform, which will be updated regularly, makes available comprehensive information on copyright legislation, news and announcements of events related to the fight against piracy worldwide, and best practices. Free awareness-raising and capacity-building tools can also be downloaded.

Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, has been named “World Book Capital 2010” by an international jury representing the book industry. Every year a special committee considers requests of cities worldwide willing to get the title of the World Book Capital. This program was mounted by UNESCO and initiated by Madrid book publishers and is now being organized with a support of major International Book Publishers Associations.   

Buenos Aires (Argentina) will be the next Book Capital in 2011. Previously World Book Capital were: Madrid (Spain, 2001), Alexandria (Egypt, 2002), New Delhi (India, 2003), Antwerp (Belgium, 2004), Montreal (Canada, 2005), Turin (Italy, 2006), Bogota (Columbia, 2007), Amsterdam (the Netherlands, 2008) and Beirut (Lebanon, 2009).