Vol. 2, No. 6, September 2004

IN THIS ISSUE:

The UNESCO Debate: What Canada Said

The proposed UNESCO convention on cultural diversity should explicitly incorporate as one of its objectives the right of governments to take measures they judge appropriate to protect and promote cultural diversity—and the focus of the convention should remain clearly on the protection of diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions.

These were highlights of the interventions made by the Canadian Government delegation over the course of the first intergovernmental experts meeting held at UNESCO headquarters September 20-24 in Paris .

To ensure the convention clearly affirmed the general right of countries to have cultural policies, Canada suggested dispensing with language in Article 6 that emphasized this right “particularly in cases where such expressions are threatened or in a situation of vulnerability”:

“The fundamental logic of cultural policies derives from the specific character of cultural goods and services and the particular dynamics of cultural markets. The right to take action should therefore in no way be conditional upon a notion of special threat or vulnerability,” the Canadian intervention stated.

However, on the crucial issue of the convention’s relationship with other existing international instruments, Canada chose at this stage of the debate not to endorse either of the two options presented for Article 19 of the draft text. Instead, Canada stated in general terms that the “Convention should have its rightful place within the international legal system, creating no hierarchy between instruments,” adding that over and above the two options offered in the preliminary draft text “Canada would consider other options that fulfill the objectives of the Convention and would find a consensus among UNESCO Membership.”

Option B states flatly that the UNESCO convention would in no way alter obligations assumed by states through other international instruments. Option A provides some very limited latitude for countries to depart from prior commitments "where the exercise of those (...) obligations would cause serious damage or threatto the diversity of cultural expressions". The consensus view of the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity is that Option A should be the starting point, and that it should in fact be improved to provide for greater capability to take measures to pursue cultural policies in favour of cultural diversity in situations where countries have previously taken liberalization commitments on culture in other international instruments.

Canada also underlined that Article 19 was not the only clause pertinent to this issue. “With respect to the relation of the Convention to other international instruments, Canada believes that Article 13 is as relevant as Article 19,” as it establishes obligations “to promote the principles of the Convention in other fora when cultural diversity may be affected.” However, Canada did not propose language to strengthen this article, which in its current form is significantly weaker than language to this effect contained in Article 21 of the original draft instrument on cultural diversity commissioned by the INCP culture ministers network.

Canada also did not raise concerns about the concept of “proportionality” employed in the Principles section of the convention. Coalition s for Cultural Diversity have urged that this term be dropped from the convention as it could lead to an approach to defining as acceptable only those measures needed to redress a crisis situation.

Canada , like other UNESCO Member States, has until November 15 to file its written comments. Member State comments, along with a summary of interventions made in the course of the September 20-24 meeting, will then be the starting point for a new draft prepared by a drafting committee mandated with preparing a new text to be released in January prior to the second intergovernmental experts meeting. The drafting committee—composed of 24 delegates drawn from UNESCO’s six regions—is scheduled to meet between December 13 and 18. The second intergovernmental meeting will follow January 31 to February 12, and is expected to embark on a clause-by-clause negotiation of the proposed text.

A report on where the UNESCO process stands after the first intergovernmental experts meeting will appear in the October issue of Coalition Currents .

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PM’s UN Speech Highlights Canada ’s
Support for UNESCO Convention

In his first major foreign policy speech since being re-elected in June, Prime Minister Paul Martin used his September 22 address to the 59 th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to reaffirm Canada ’s support for the proposed UNESCO convention for the protection of diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions.

Martin situated his comments with respect to the UNESCO convention within the context of a broader debate concerning reform of the United Nations and the need to more generally strengthen multilateral institutions in the 21 st century.

The Prime Minister’s speech identified “the responsibility to respect human beings, their dignity and their culture” as one of five areas where “bold steps” are needed.

“In fact the recent UNDP report on human development stresses that cultural diversity is also tied in with freedom. That is why we favour a UNESCO instrument on cultural promotion,” he said.

UNESCO Convention Principal Theme
of Paris Trip by Heritage Minister

Canada ’s objectives with respect to the proposed UNESCO Convention were a principal subject of a series of meetings Minister of Canadian Heritage Liza Frulla had with UNESCO’s Director General Koїchiro Matsuura, Francophonie’s Secretary General Abdou Diouf, and the French Minister of Culture and Communications Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres during the week of September 20-24.

The need for the proposed convention was also the primary subject of a series of media interviews the Minister gave during the course of her visit. Notably, in a September 22 interview in the major Paris daily Le Figaro, Frulla emphasized Canada ’s desire that the UNESCO process result “in a strong, binding convention, which is to say it would have a legal value that would have to be taken into account in WTO negotiations.”

Minister Frulla further signalled the importance Canada attaches to the proposed convention on the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions by making a brief appearance on September 22 in the middle of UNESCO’s first intergovernmental experts negotiation session. The chair of the UNESCO meeting, Kader Asmal, welcomed her appearance at the meeting.

CCD Co-organize Coalition s Meeting,
UNESCO Seminar in Paris

International activities again figured prominently in the workload of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity in September, with major highlights being a meeting of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC) and an event held at UNESCO on September 14 designed to reach ambassadors and other national representatives just prior to the start of the first intergovernmental negotiations session held September 20-24.

Both events were organized by the Canadian Coalition in close cooperation with France ’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity in their joint capacity as Co-Secretariat for the International Liaison Committee.

The ILC Meeting, held September 13 in Paris, was the largest yet, as it brought together representatives of 15 existing coalitions—including delegates of newly-formed coalitions in Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Peru and Uruguay—as well as observers from cultural organizations working to establish coalitions in Ireland and Spain.

The main focus of the September ILC meeting was to develop a consensus response to UNESCO’s preliminary draft text of the convention—a response which was made public the following day at a special seminar on the convention organized by the ILC for UNESCO ambassadors and delegation representatives.

CCD Co-Chair Pierre Curzi was one of five coalition representatives speaking at the seminar, joining filmmaker Nabil Ayouch of Morocco , screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere of France, publisher Anna Danieli of Uruguay , and actor Rasmane Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso . Their statements were preceded by speeches from three experts who had been part of the multi-disciplinary team that prepared the UNESCO draft text at the appointment of Director General Koїchiro Matsuura— Ivan Bernier of Canada, Jean Musitelli of France, and David Throsby of Australia. The seminar was moderated by Pascal Rogard, the Chair of the French Coalition .

The session was attended by more than 200 people, including representatives of more than 60 permanent national delegations at UNESCO.

CCD Executive Vice-President Robert Pilon and Director of External Relations Jim McKee were also part of the ILC delegation for the September 20-24 intergovernmental negotiations on the convention. In this role, they alternated with Debora Abramowicz of the French Coalition and Nemesio Juarez of the Argentine Coalition . Anna Danieli of the Uruguayan Coalition was also on hand as a member of her country’s national delegation.

Meanwhile, the CCD continued its work to encourage and support the establishment of new coalitions in other countries. Following the seminar at UNESCO, Jim McKee, travelled to Dublin to join several key cultural organizations on September 17 for a special meeting to establish a new coalition for cultural diversity in Ireland . The Irish coalition brings to 19 the number of national coalitions now in existence—up from 11 just four months ago, with new coalitions in the works in Brazil , Ecuador , Hungary , Italy and Spain .

The following week, while Pierre Curzi was in Budapest for the 18th Congress of FIA, the international federation of actors, Jim McKee joined him for a September 20 meeting with several key Hungarian cultural organizations interested in establishing their own coalition for cultural diversity. The Hungarian organizations are optimistic about having their coalition established before the end of the year.

TOP

• The UNESCO Debate: What Canada Said

• PM’s UN Speech Highlights Canada ’s Support for UNESCO Convention

• UNESCO Convention Principal Theme of Paris Trip by Heritage Minister

• CCD Co-organize Coalition s Meeting, UNESCO Seminar in Paris

  
  
  

  
  

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