Representatives of cultural organizations from 10 Asia-Pacific Countries gathered in Vancouver, Canada, for a two-day meeting focusing on implications and opportunities presented by the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions for the development of cultural industries in the region.

The two-day meeting, presented by the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity in partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD) was opened by Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore, who reiterated Canada’s strong support for the UNESCO Convention.

“This important instrument recognizes that the contribution our artists and creators make to our society is a public good, one to be cherished and one to be protected,” he added.

“It’s very important that we continue to do this, not only here at home but abroad. That is what this convention is all about. It’s about allowing governments to create the right environment for our cultures to thrive.”

“We want to help countries build their capacity to promote cultural diversity by being open to other countries and cultures and by promoting their local and national cultural expressions. And by sharing other countries’ cultural perspectives so that their stories and experience contribute to an enriched cultural world.”

“Canada, and all of our fellow signatories to the Convention, benefit from clear ground rules. By recognizing that cultural goods have a social as well as economic value, this international instrument allows us to adopt and maintain policies that support our cultural expressions,” the Minister stated.

The Minister noted that 96 ratifications to date represented impressive progress, but emphasized the need for more work by both governments and civil society to promote broader ratification to ensure that the full legal and political potential of the Convention as an instrument for upholding the right of countries to apply cultural policies is realized.

On this count, he stressed the importance of increasing the number of ratifications by Commonwealth member countries (18 of 53 to date), and in particular from the Asia-Pacific Region. “We must work together, government and civil society, to ensure that the voices of Asia-Pacific countries are heard around the UNESCO table, particularly given the rich cultures of the region that contribute so much to the diversity of cultural expressions.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, participants adopted a statement in which they called on governments that have not yet done so to ratify the 2005 Convention, and to engage civil society in effectively implementing it. To this end, they also agreed to explore the possibility of bringing together cultural organizations in their countries to establish national coalitions for cultural diversity.
For more info: http://www.culturaldiversity.ca/main_pages_en/index_en.htm

Dissemination Campaign on
UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

2.1 Introduction
The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity was adopted by the 31st session of the General Conference of UNESCO on 2 November 2001, around two months after the September 11 attacks in Washington. To disseminate this Declaration and raise awareness of its principles and lines of action among the wider audiences including the relevant government section and civil society organisations (CSOs), this proposal seeks to organise a campaign at the divisional and national levels of Bangladesh.


2.2 Rationale
BNNRC considers this dissemination campaign an important step towards its contribution to building a society 'culturally progressive' and 'socially just, enlightened and democratic' in terms of promoting cultural diversity, and the spirit of pluralism in the national context of Bangladesh amid the fast-changing global situations threatened by the 'clash of civilizations'.

“People are discovering new but often old identities and marching under new but often old flags which lead to wars with new but often old enemies… culture and cultural identities, which at the broadest level are civilization identities, are shaping the patterns of cohesion, disintegration, and conflict in the post-Cold war world… In the post-Cold War world, the most important distinctions among people are not ideological, political, or economic.

They are cultural.” This constitutes the core of the arguments that Samuel P. Huntington has professed in his ‘bold’, ‘provocative’, ‘sweeping’ and ‘brilliant’ work entitled The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order (pp. 20-21: 1997).


The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity rejects the Huntington “theory of the inevitable clash of cultures and civilizations”. It rather promotes a counterargument that the ‘cultural wealth of the world is its diversity’ in intercultural exchange which guarantees peace and harmony. Moreover, this raises cultural diversity to the level of “common heritage of humanity”.

UNESCO Director-General Matsuura argues that cultural diversity can rather be ‘preserved as an adaptive process and as a capacity for expression, creation and innovation’ in pluralist, democratic societies. The Declaration can, therefore, be ‘an outstanding tool for development, capable of humanizing globalization’ in the culture-specific development context of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication(BNNRC) explores this to be an opportunity of work around Culture in Development and also ICT for Culture(I4C)in Bangladesh.


2.3 Campaign Target
The campaign seeks to mobilise people from different backgrounds of our socio-economic, political and cultural life, specifically the concerned government agencies as well as the CSOs, groups and individuals around the campaign and draw their opinions in terms of interactions and exchange of views. The potential campaign targets will be as follows.


o Members of Parliament (MPs), and bureaucrats associated with
cultural affairs;
o leaders and activists representing different CSOs including NGOs,
cultural organisations, women’s organisations, trade unions, etc;
o media personalities and professionals;
o academics i.e. researchers, teachers and students;
o legal practitioners i.e. advocates;
o medical practitioners, i.e. doctors; and
o development partners. and also book publisher, film and radio, TV, music, performing art, visual art and multidisciplinary organizations


2.4 Activities
The campaign will limit its scope of operation to the following activities:

2.4.1 Booklet Production
o Translation into Bangla, Composition on computer, Proof reading,
Editing, Layout and design, Printing and Binding, Packaging and
Mailing

2.4.2.Poster Production and Circulation
o Text preparation, Layout and Design, Printing ,Circulation

2.4.3: Leaflet Production and Circulation
o Text preparation, Layout and Design, Printing ,Circulation

2.4. 4: Regional and National Workshops
o To organise five Regional Workshops in Barisal, Sylhet, Rajshahi,
Chittagong and Dhaka divisions, To organise a National Workshop
in Dhaka

BACKGROUND
UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity is adopted by the UNESCO in 2001.

In succession of this another Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression was held in 2005. Meanwhile, we have come to know that the articles of the mentioned conventions have been ratified by the government of Bangladesh.

Being sad, it is true that hardly any awareness has been created among the concerned stakeholders in Bangladesh regarding UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression.
Notwithstanding, Cultural Policy has been drawn up by the endeavour of Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Hardly any consciousness regarding the mentioned Cultural Policy has been created among the concerned stakeholders. Consequently, the implementation of UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression has been remained neglected.

We have been going on the awareness program for long regarding ICT for Culture which is the part of implementation of the action plan of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

In this backdrop, we think that it is necessary to raise awareness and lobby widely among the concerned stakeholders and policy makers of the government concerning the mentioned UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression.

Conforming to that, we are going to form Bangladesh Coalition for Cultural Diversity (BCCD) in co-ordination with different stakeholders i.e. book publisher, film and radio, TV, music, performing art, visual art and multidisciplinary organizations. We hope, performing manifold procedures, it might be possible for us to present a full-fledged coalition committee and coming five year program since April 2009.

At present, BCCD’s limited programs are going on in a limited extent with collaboration of BNNRC.

We, BCCD, are requesting you to provide overall support and suggestion so that we can continue work with major substantiated matters of UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression.

PURPOSE
To create a coalition entitled 'Bangladesh Coalition for Cultural Diversity (BCCD)'

OBJECTIVES
Bangladesh Coalition for Cultural Diversity (BCCD) would fulfill the following objectives in order to create awareness on UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression:

1.Create a database of all cultural organizations like Book Association, Film and TV/Radio, Music, Performing Art, Visual Art, Multi Disciplinary and Practitioner NGOs in Bangladesh

2.Enable organizations to have a platform to meet and express their views, highlight best practices and challenges, Develop into a powerful pressure group for the Cultural Diversity

5.Enter into dialogue with the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity; provide the unity that is essential for development in Culture

7.Disseminate information easily to all cultural industrial workers, especially on matters of copyright/ copy left/ open source/country commons/global commons and other Policy Matter,

9.Increase public-private sector partnership dialogue, Access finance for SMEs for their survival and growth, Educate members on entrepreneurial skills, Policy issues, national and regional issues and other skills

12.Enable integration into global markets, document all cultural works

14.Undertake professional planning and research program

STRATEGIES
To achieve the above objectives, the following strategies should be sought:

1.Invite the heads of all cultural organizations within Bangladesh (estimating 30-40) to a meeting at the earliest opportunity, and with at least 2 weeks’ notice with the assistance of Cultural Adviser of Ministry of Cultural Affairs and UNESCO.

2.The letter of invitation should state the objectives of such a coalition, Prepare a form for participants to fill in, to obtain their relevant particulars for the database. This form should be sent out with the invitation and handed in at the meeting.

4.Seek sponsorship for such a meeting, providing transport and possibly overnight allowances for out-of-town delegates. Possible sources of funding: UNESCO and other donors.

5.The purpose of the meeting would be to introduce the idea of the coalition, to work on key matters i.e. policy advocacy, education of marketing, copyright, entrepreneurial skills, research, planning, documentation.

6.Set a deadline for the execution of the above and manner of delivery of information (by email, phone, letter etc) invite just one speaker from UN, NGOs and other donor agencies who can talk on the marketing of cultural products.

OUTCOMES
The following outcomes are expected from this meeting:

1.A database of all cultural organizations is created, A coalition is formed which can link with the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity

2.Information can begin to be available from a central source,

3.Plans for short, medium and long term can be formulated for educating the members on markets, finance etc. An expert can be requested to help with this.

4.Members can feed their ideas into this Coalition;

5.A small secretariat is established,

6.A web site of Bangladesh Coalition for Cultural Diversity (BCCD) is established;

7.An email group list (mailing list) is established;

8.A monthly Newsletter is arranged and published regularly;

9.Organize a National/ Regional (South Asian) 2 day forum on Cultural Diversity;

CONCLUSION
It is important to believe in the important role of culture in sustainable development, in particular for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and secondly in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and Cultural Policy in Bangladesh.

IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION: to be supported by UNESCO
1.Translating the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity into Bengali;

2.Publish a bilingual booklet on the declaration;

3.BCCD (Bangladesh Coalition for Cultural Diversity) consultation meeting.

Paris, 20 October 2005
CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION
OF THE DIVERSITY OF CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS

The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, meeting in Paris from 3 to 21 October 2005 at its 33rd session

The objectives of this Convention are:
(a) to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions;
(b) to create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner;
(c) to encourage dialogue among cultures with a view to ensuring wider and balanced cultural exchanges in the world in favour of intercultural respect and a culture of peace;
(d) to foster interculturality in order to develop cultural interaction in the spirit of building bridges among peoples;
(e) to promote respect for the diversity of cultural expressions and raise awareness of its value at the local, national and international levels;
(f) to reaffirm the importance of the link between culture and development for all countries, particularly for developing countries, and to support actions undertaken nationally and internationally to secure recognition of the true value of this link;
(g) to give recognition to the distinctive nature of cultural activities, goods and services as vehicles of identity, values and meaning;
(h) to reaffirm the sovereign rights of States to maintain, adopt and implement policies and measures that they deem appropriate for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions on their territory;
(i) to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity in a spirit of partnership with a view, in particular, to enhancing the capacities of developing countries in order to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions.

For more information regarding : Convention

Civil society meeting at the 2007 Commonwealth People's Forum, Kampala, Uganda, agreed the following statement on culture and diversity.

Noting that the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, at their 2005 meeting in Malta, affirmed the importance of promoting tolerance, respect, enlightened moderation and friendship among people of different races, faiths and cultures;

Noting that culture in the Commonwealth is a driving force for people-centred development;

We call on Commonwealth Member States to:

- recognise and promote awareness that cultural diversity within and between Member States is a fundamental pillar of the Commonwealth, alongside development and democracy;

- create an enabling environment to foster unity in diversity; ensure respectful dialogue between people with different identities and values within communities, regions, nation states and the Commonwealth; and address issues of conflict, social exclusion and marginalisation;

- recognise and support the increasing role of the creative industries, cultural heritage, and other forms of cultural creativity in contributing to economic development, while protecting creators' rights of ownership to enable local communities to realise their potential;

- raise the status and budgets of member government Ministries and Commonwealth bodies with a brief for gender, youth, culture and diversity, while ensuring that their programmes and actions are integrated into the work of all other departments;

- support greater Commonwealth-level networking between culture ministers and senior officials, including civil society and the private sector; and

- ratify the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and meaningfully involve and support civil society in its implementation at national, regional and international levels, notably in the development and application of cultural policies and strategies.

For more information: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/development/culturecpf07statement/

'Putting Culture First'

In March 2008, the Commonwealth Foundation's Culture and Diversity Programme launched a major research project into culture, cultural policy and development, called "Putting Culture First".

The report is available for download at the bottom of this page. The primary research material canalso be downloaded.

Protecting and promoting one's own culture while recognising and valuing the existence of others has been a fundamental challenge through much of the Commonwealth's history. Maintaining cultural diversity, though, is more than an end in itself, and in recent decades global efforts have increasingly been made to recognise the other numerous connections between culture and development.

Some links, of course, are more obvious than others. Culture has been widely used as an instrument of development and governance, and the Commonwealth Foundation's Culture Toolkit documents examples of best practice, such as the use of radio to increase accountability in Belize. Similarly, there's a lot of value in the adoption of culturally sensitive and sustainable methods to pursue development goals, such as spreading the message of HIV/AIDs prevention through local cultural methods. The creative industries are increasingly being seen as generators of economic development, and potential supporters of sustainable livelihoods.

But how does 'culture' become intrinsic to development, rather than simply instrumental? Putting Culture First is a research project recognising culture as a foundational pillar of development, and seeking to identify what the principal connections look like in practice.

One departure point is a focus on cultural policy. A recent UNESCO Convention, entering force in 2007, promises to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions. Issues such as copyright, international trade rights in the cultural sector and assistance for artists and cultural practitioners are all tackled by the Convention. In particular, though, it is through the affirmation of states' sovereign right to adopt and implement cultural policies aimed at fostering the growth of the creative industries that the Convention seeks to release the economic, social and human development potential of culture. In November 2007, Commonwealth civil society called upon member states to ratify and implement the Convention.

The Convention, however, focuses primarily on the creative industries; arts, literature, film, music and so on. Good cultural policy aimed at fostering creativity in these fields is increasingly being seen as a prerequisite for social development. But it is also entirely possible that cultural policy may not turn out to be the silver bullet some believe it to be, and that an anthropological interpretation of 'culture' as something more behavioural and everyday still holds weight. Engaging with different approaches to culture and development, as well as conceptualising related issues of creativity, identity, transformation, social cohesion and building a 'good society', are therefore paramount concerns for Commonwealth governments and civil society.

For more information: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/Research/

Further to the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity by UNESCO on November 2001, the General Assembly, in Resolution 57/249, welcomed the Declaration and the main lines of an Action Plan for its implementation, and proclaimed 21 May the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

The Day provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to “live together” better.

UNESCO continues to promote greater awareness of the crucial relationship between culture and development and the important role of information and communication technologies in this relationship.

The University of Sydney acknowledges and celebrates the existence of broad cultural groups within its community and within Australian culture. Cultural diversity has been part of Australia's history, and through it, Australian culture is constantly developing.

Cultural diversity includes (but is not restricted to):
language
race
ethnic background
country or region of origin
dress
values
religion and associated practices
social and community responsibilities
sexuality
disability
notions of family
family responsibilities
political views
Valuing and managing cultural diversity at the University of Sydney is the process of recognising, utilising and benefiting from the variety of backgrounds of our staff and students.

The end of the cold war has created a series of tentative attempts to define "a new world order". So far, the only certainty is that the international community has entered a period of tremendous global transition that, at least for the time being, has created more social problems than solutions.

The end of super-power rivalry, and the growing North/South disparity in wealth and access to resources, coincide with an alarming increase in violence, poverty and unemployment, homelessness, displaced persons and the erosion of environmental stability. The world has also witnessed one of the most severe global economic recessions since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

At the same time, previously isolated peoples are being brought together voluntarily and involuntarily by the increasing integration of markets, the emergence of new regional political alliances, and remarkable advances in telecommunications, biotechnology and transportation that have prompted unprecedented demographic shifts.

The resulting confluence of peoples and cultures is an increasingly global, multicultural world brimming with tension, confusion and conflict in the process of its adjustment to pluralism. There is an understandable urge to return to old conventions, traditional cultures, fundamental values, and the familiar, seemingly secure, sense of one's identity. Without a secure sense of identity amidst the turmoil of transition, people may resort to isolationism, ethnocentricism and intolerance.

This climate of change and acute vulnerability raises new challenges to our ongoing pursuit of universal human rights. How can human rights be reconciled with the clash of cultures that has come to characterize our time? Cultural background is one of the primary sources of identity. It is the source for a great deal of self-definition, expression, and sense of group belonging. As cultures interact and intermix, cultural identities change. This process can be enriching, but disorienting. The current insecurity of cultural identity reflects fundamental changes in how we define and express who we are today.

Universal Human Rights and Cultural Relativism
This situation sharpens a long-standing dilemma: How can universal human rights exist in a culturally diverse world? As the international community becomes increasingly integrated, how can cultural diversity and integrity be respected? Is a global culture inevitable? If so, is the world ready for it? How could a global culture emerge based on and guided by human dignity and tolerance? These are some of the issues, concerns and questions underlying the debate over universal human rights and cultural relativism.

Cultural relativism is the assertion that human values, far from being universal, vary a great deal according to different cultural perspectives. Some would apply this relativism to the promotion, protection, interpretation and application of human rights which could be interpreted differently within different cultural, ethnic and religious traditions. In other words, according to this view, human rights are culturally relative rather than universal.

Taken to its extreme, this relativism would pose a dangerous threat to the effectiveness of international law and the international system of human rights that has been painstakingly contructed over the decades. If cultural tradition alone governs State compliance with international standards, then widespread disregard, abuse and violation of human rights would be given legitimacy.

Accordingly, the promotion and protection of human rights perceived as culturally relative would only be subject to State discretion, rather than international legal imperative. By rejecting or disregarding their legal obligation to promote and protect universal human rights, States advocating cultural relativism could raise their own cultural norms and particularities above international law and standards.

Universal Human Rights and International Law
Largely through the ongoing work of the United Nations, the universality of human rights has been clearly established and recognized in international law. Human rights are emphasized among the purposes of the United Nations as proclaimed in its Charter, which states that human rights are "for all without distinction". Human rights are the natural-born rights for every human being, universally. They are not privileges.

The Charter further commits the United Nations and all Member States to action promoting "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms". As the cornerstone of the International Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms consensus on a universal standard of human rights. In the recent issue of A Global Agenda, Charles Norchi points out that the Universal Declaration "represents a broader consensus on human dignity than does any single culture or tradition".

Universal human rights are further established by the two international covenants on human rights (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), and the other international standard-setting instruments which address numerous concerns, including genocide, slavery, torture, racial discrimination, discrimination against women, rights of the child, minorities and religious tolerance.

These achievements in human rights standard-setting span nearly five decades of work by the United Nations General Assembly and other parts of the United Nations system. As an assembly of nearly every State in the international community, the General Assembly is a uniquely representative body authorized to address and advance the protection and promotion of human rights. As such, it serves as an excellent indicator of international consensus on human rights.

This consensus is embodied in the language of the Universal Declaration itself. The universal nature of human rights is literally written into the title of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its Preamble proclaims the Declaration as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations".

This statement is echoed most recently in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which repeats the same language to reaffirm the status of the Universal Declaration as a "common standard" for everyone. Adopted in June 1993 by the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Austria, the Vienna Declaration continues to reinforce the universality of human rights, stating, "All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated". This means that political, civil, cultural, economic and social human rights are to be seen in their entirety. One cannot pick and choose which rights to promote and protect. They are all of equal value and apply to everyone.

As if to settle the matter once and for all, the Vienna Declaration states in its first paragraph that "the universal nature" of all human rights and fundamental freedoms is "beyond question". The unquestionable universality of human rights is presented in the context of the reaffirmation of the obligation of States to promote and protect human rights.

The legal obligation is reaffirmed for all States to promote "universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all". It is clearly stated that the obligation of States is to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights. Not selective, not relative, but universal respect, observance and protection.

Furthermore, the obligation is established for all States, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other instruments of human rights and international law. No State is exempt from this obligation. All Member States of the United Nations have a legal obligation to promote and protect human rights, regardless of particular cultural perspectives. Universal human rights protection and promotion are asserted in the Vienna Declaration as the "first responsibility" of all Governments.

Everyone is entitled to human rights without discrimination of any kind. The non-discrimination principle is a fundamental rule of international law. This means that human rights are for all human beings, regardless of "race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status". Non-discrimination protects individuals and groups against the denial and violation of their human rights. To deny human rights on the grounds of cultural distinction is discriminatory. Human rights are intended for everyone, in every culture.

Human rights are the birthright of every person. If a State dismisses universal human rights on the basis of cultural relativism, then rights would be denied to the persons living under that State's authority. The denial or abuse of human rights is wrong, regardless of the violator's culture.

Human Rights, Cultural Integrity and Diversity
Universal human rights do not impose one cultural standard, rather one legal standard of minimum protection necessary for human dignity. As a legal standard adopted through the United Nations, universal human rights represent the hard-won consensus of the international community, not the cultural imperialism of any particular region or set of traditions.

Like most areas of international law, universal human rights are a modern achievement, new to all cultures. Human rights are neither representative of, nor oriented towards, one culture to the exclusion of others. Universal human rights reflect the dynamic, coordinated efforts of the international community to achieve and advance a common standard and international system of law to protect human dignity.

Inherent Flexibility
Out of this process, universal human rights emerge with sufficient flexibility to respect and protect cultural diversity and integrity. The flexibility of human rights to be relevant to diverse cultures is facilitated by the establishment of minimum standards and the incorporation of cultural rights.

The instruments establish minimum standards for economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. Within this framework, States have maximum room for cultural variation without diluting or compromising the minimum standards of human rights established by law. These minimum standards are in fact quite high , requiring from the State a very high level of performance in the field of human rights.

The Vienna Declaration provides explicit consideration for culture in human rights promotion and protection, stating that "the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind". This is deliberately acknowledged in the context of the duty of States to promote and protect human rights regardless of their cultural systems. While its importance is recognized, cultural consideration in no way diminishes States' human rights obligations.

Most directly, human rights facilitate respect for and protection of cultural diversity and integrity, through the establishment of cultural rights embodied in instruments of human rights law. These include: the International Bill of Rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice; the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief; the Declaration on the Principles of International Cultural Cooperation; the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; the Declaration on the Right to Development; the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; and the ILO Convention No. 169 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.

Human rights which relate to cultural diversity and integrity encompass a wide range of protections, including: the right to cultural participation; the right to enjoy the arts; conservation, development and diffusion of culture; protection of cultural heritage; freedom for creative activity; protection of persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities; freedom of assembly and association; the right to education; freedom of thought, conscience or religion; freedom of opinion and expression; and the principle of non-discrimination.

Cultural Rights
Every human being has the right to culture, including the right to enjoy and develop cultural life and identity. Cultural rights, however, are not unlimited. The right to culture is limited at the point at which it infringes on another human right. No right can be used at the expense or destruction of another, in accordance with international law.

This means that cultural rights cannot be invoked or interpreted in such a way as to justify any act leading to the denial or violation of other human rights and fundamental freedoms. As such, claiming cultural relativism as an excuse to violate or deny human rights is an abuse of the right to culture.

There are legitimate, substantive limitations on cultural practices, even on well-entrenched traditions. For example, no culture today can legitimately claim a right to practise slavery. Despite its practice in many cultures throughout history, slavery today cannot be considered legitimate, legal, or part of a cultural legacy entitled to protection in any way. To the contrary, all forms of slavery, including contemporary slavery-like practices, are a gross violation of human rights under international law.

Similarly, cultural rights do not justify torture, murder, genocide, discrimination on grounds of sex, race, language or religion, or violation of any of the other universal human rights and fundamental freedoms established in international law. Any attempts to justify such violations on the basis of culture have no validity under international law.

A Cultural Context
The argument of cultural relativism frequently includes or leads to the assertion that traditional culture is sufficient to protect human dignity, and therefore universal human rights are unnecessary. Furthermore, the argument continues, universal human rights can be intrusive and disruptive to traditional protection of human life, liberty and security.

When traditional culture does effectively provide such protection, then human rights by definition would be compatible, posing no threat to the traditional culture. As such, the traditional culture can absorb and apply human rights, and the governing State should be in a better position not only to ratify, but to effectively and fully implement, the international standards.

Traditional culture is not a substitute for human rights; it is a cultural context in which human rights must be established, integrated, promoted and protected. Human rights must be approached in a way that is meaningful and relevant in diverse cultural contexts.

Rather than limit human rights to suit a given culture, why not draw on traditional cultural values to reinforce the application and relevance of universal human rights? There is an increased need to emphasize the common, core values shared by all cultures: the value of life, social order and protection from arbitrary rule. These basic values are embodied in human rights.

Traditional cultures should be approached and recognized as partners to promote greater respect for and observance of human rights. Drawing on compatible practices and common values from traditional cultures would enhance and advance human rights promotion and protection. This approach not only encourages greater tolerance, mutual respect and understanding, but also fosters more effective international cooperation for human rights.

Greater understanding of the ways in which traditional cultures protect the well-being of their people would illuminate the common foundation of human dignity on which human rights promotion and protection stand. This insight would enable human rights advocacy to assert the cultural relevance, as well as the legal obligation, of universal human rights in diverse cultural contexts. Recognition and appreciation of particular cultural contexts would serve to facilitate, rather than reduce, human rights respect and observance.

Working in this way with particular cultures inherently recognizes cultural integrity and diversity, without compromising or diluting the unquestionably universal standard of human rights. Such an approach is essential to ensure that the future will be guided above all by human rights, non-discrimination, tolerance and cultural pluralism.

by:Diana Ayton-Shenker

Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information DPI/1627/HR--March 1995

Cultural and linguistic diversity, while stimulating respect for cultural identity, traditions and religions, is essential to the development of an Information Society based on the dialogue among cultures and regional and international cooperation. It is an important factor for sustainable development.
a) Create policies that support the respect, preservation, promotion and enhancement of cultural and linguistic diversity and cultural heritage within the Information Society, as reflected in relevant agreed United Nations documents, including UNESCO's Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. This includes encouraging governments to design cultural policies to promote the production of cultural, educational and scientific content and the development of local cultural industries suited to the linguistic and cultural context of the users.

b) Develop national policies and laws to ensure that libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions can play their full role of content—including traditional knowledge—providers in the Information Society, more particularly by providing continued access to recorded information.

c) Support efforts to develop and use ICTs for the preservation of natural and, cultural heritage, keeping it accessible as a living part of today’s culture. This includes developing systems for ensuring continued access to archived digital information and multimedia content in digital repositories, and support archives, cultural collections and libraries as the memory of humankind.

d) Develop and implement policies that preserve, affirm, respect and promote diversity of cultural expression and indigenous knowledge and traditions through the creation of varied information content and the use of different methods, including the digitization of the educational, scientific and cultural heritage.

e) Support local content development, translation and adaptation, digital archives, and diverse forms of digital and traditional media by local authorities. These activities can also strengthen local and indigenous communities.

f) Provide content that is relevant to the cultures and languages of individuals in the Information Society, through access to traditional and digital media services.

g) Through public/private partnerships, foster the creation of varied local and national content, including that available in the language of users, and give recognition and support to ICT-based work in all artistic fields.

h) Strengthen programmes focused on gender-sensitive curricula in formal and non-formal education for all and enhancing communication and media literacy for women with a view to building the capacity of girls and women to understand and to develop ICT content.

i) Nurture the local capacity for the creation and distribution of software in local languages, as well as content that is relevant to different segments of population, including non-literate, persons with disabilities, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

j) Give support to media based in local communities and support projects combining the use of traditional media and new technologies for their role in facilitating the use of local languages, for documenting and preserving local heritage, including landscape and biological diversity, and as a means to reach rural and isolated and nomadic communities.

k) Enhance the capacity of indigenous peoples to develop content in their own languages.

l) Cooperate with indigenous peoples and traditional communities to enable them to more effectively use and benefit from the use of their traditional knowledge in the Information Society.

m) Exchange knowledge, experiences and best practices on policies and tools designed to promote cultural and linguistic diversity at regional and sub-regional levels. This can be achieved by establishing regional, and sub-regional working groups on specific issues of this Plan of Action to foster integration efforts.

n) Assess at the regional level the contribution of ICT to cultural exchange and interaction, and based on the outcome of this assessment, design relevant programmes.

o) Governments, through public/private partnerships, should promote technologies and R&D programmes in such areas as translation, iconographies, voice-assisted services and the development of necessary hardware and a variety of software models, including proprietary, open source software and free software, such as standard character sets, language codes, electronic dictionaries, terminology and thesauri, multilingual search engines, machine translation tools, internationalized domain names, content referencing as well as general and application software.

For more info: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=15927&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Vancouver Statement of First Meeting of Coalitions and Cultural Organizations of Asia-Pacific States
Representatives of cultural organizations from 10 Asia-Pacific states gathered in Vancouver, Canada, March 27-29, to discuss the implications and opportunities presented by the UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. At the conclusion of their discussions, they agreed on the following declaration:

Recognizing the distinctive nature of cultural goods and services as transmitters of values, identity and meaning in addition to culture’s dimension as a key pillar of sustainable economic and social development, we, as representatives of cultural organizations from across Asia-Pacific, urge all UNESCO member states from the region that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention on the diversity of cultural expressions on a priority basis.

We urge these same states to meaningfully involve and support civil society, including cultural organizations, in the process for implementing the Convention at the national, regional and international levels—notably through consultation and engagement in the application of policies and other measures to support domestic cultural industries.

We also call on all Asia-Pacific states to ensure coherence in their actions, and to not only ratify the convention, but to uphold and observe its principles and objectives in other international forums—notably by refraining from liberalization commitments in trade negotiations that would constrain their right to apply cultural policies and other measures in support of their domestic cultural sector.

We undertake to work together to advocate ratification and meaningful engagement of civil society in implementation of the Convention by expanding the mobilization of Asia Pacific cultural organizations, and to explore the creation of national Coalitions for Cultural Diversity in our own countries to pursue these objectives.

We urge States to publicly affirm their intention to ratify the Convention and engage in its effective implementation through the adoption of statements in such forums as the ministerial meeting of the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP), the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and appropriate meetings of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Adopted March 29, in Vancouver, Canada by representatives of cultural organizations from Australia, Brunei, Canada, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.

The meeting was presented by the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity in association with the Commonwealth Foundation and the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD)

For more info: http://www.culturaldiversity.ca/coalition_currents/09_May/VancouverStatement.pdf