Highlights:
Vol. 5, No. 3, December 2007
First Intergovernmental Committee Meeting in Ottawa:
Canada Maintains Leader Role on UNESCO Convention File
Canada maintained its strong engagement in support of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions as it hosted the first meeting of the Convention's Intergovernmental Committee December 10 to13 in Ottawa.
The Intergovernmental Committee is the body charged with developing the operational guidelines that will effectively bring the Convention to life as a legal and political instrument. These will be submitted for approval to the second Conference of Parties to the Convention scheduled to take place in June of 2009.
The Ottawa meeting was important to effectively launch the work of the Committee and set both the direction and tone for the three further meetings of the Intergovernmental Committee that will take place between now and June 2009: late June 2008, December 2008, and first quarter of 2009.
Repeated references made to "the spirit of Ottawa" by Committee members at the conclusion of four days of meetings suggest that although a great deal of work remains to be done before the Convention is truly operational, this process has been launched in the right direction.
Canada was one of 24 UNESCO member states elected to the Intergovernmental Committee at the inaugural Conference of Parties to the Convention last June. The fact that Canada's offer to host the Committee's inaugural meeting was accepted unanimously is testimony to the widespread recognition of the major contribution Canada has made throughout the campaign to negotiate, adopt, ratify and now implement the convention.
In her address during the opening ceremonies for the Ottawa Meeting, Minister of Canadian Heritage Josée Verner underlined what was at stake in the campaign for the Convention, and reiterated Canada's commitment to continue playing an active role in the crucial launch of the implementation phase.
"A country's culture enables citizens to define themselves, know who they are, share the values rooted in their common history, and shape their future together. Each nation's culture enriches cultural diversity around the world," the Minister stated. "We also believe that the world is enriched by a diversity of viewpoints. The Convention recognizes and protects this richness."
"It is during the implementation of the Convention that we will realize its full reach. Just like you, Canada is pleased to contribute to this process," the Minister stated
The Fund for Cultural Diversity: Canada Pledges $500,000, Quebec $100,000
Emphasizing the priority that Canada attached to following through on the international cooperation objectives set out in the Convention, Minister Verner announced that for 2008 Canada would be contributing $500,000 to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity.
"This contribution will support the objectives of the convention with respect to the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. I believe that the Fund should therefore be put in place as quickly as possible," Minister Verner said.
Canada's contribution to the Fund was noteworthy on two levels. The amount of $500,000 is equivalent to 5% of Canada's dues to UNESCO-breaking in a positive way with an early trend of member states to limit their contributions to a very modest level of 1% of their dues. Moreover, in announcing that the contribution was for 2008, the Minister signalled that Canada envisages contributing on a recurring basis. This will be crucial to ensuring that the Fund is resourced on an ongoing basis.
With 75 of UNESCO's 192 member states having ratified at the time the meeting began, the Minister stressed that work to encourage broader ratification must continue in order to realize the full potential of the convention.
"I want to reiterate that our government will continue to promote ratification of the Convention and we will continue our efforts to convince the largest possible number of countries to approve it so that this treaty rallies every region of the world," she said.
Christine St-Pierre, Quebec's Minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women, also spoke during the opening ceremonies, and noted that the impressive progress to date was "the fruit of a remarkable convergence of views between states and governments that participated in the campaign, as well as of the essential contribution from civil society. In particular, I want to recognize and thank the representatives of the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, recently united as an international Federation."
Minister St-Pierre emphasized Quebec's continuing engagement in the process for ensuring an effective implementation of the Convention, and suggested that the particular importance cultural policies have played in ensuring Quebeckers have access to their culture represented a resource it could bring to the work on implementation.
"We believe that the expertise we have developed with respect to policy and support measures for culture can be useful. We therefore make it available to anyone who wishes to use it. This is one of the ways in which we hope to contribute to the implementation of this Convention," she said.
Minister St-Pierre further signaled Quebec's commitment to the implementation process by announcing that it will be contributing $100,000 to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity.
On Wednesday evening, at a reception hosted by the Government of Quebec, Minister of International Relations Monique Gagnon-Tremblay pledged that Quebec would continue to deploy its international missions and networks to promote broader ratification even as it worked to identify the "best ways of ensuring that the Convention yields concrete benefits for everyone."
"For the Government of Quebec, cultural goods and services transcend their strictly commercial dimension. They have an intrinsic value that is beyond measure by virtue of the fact that they enable us to have access to each other," the Minister had stated earlier.
"This is why Quebec's cultural policy affirms that culture is as important as the economy. That the independence of creation is a fundamental value. And that, just like education, culture is a right. In valuing the arts beyond their economic dimension, Quebec recognizes their value as vehicles for affirming identity and promoting exchange."
Further evidence of Quebec's continuing engagement to ensure a successful implementation of the Convention can be found in a very useful ongoing series of papers it has been commissioning by experts on specific aspects of this process. These include papers on:
- The Convention's dispute resolution process (Ivan Bernier, professor emeritus, University Laval Faculty of Law and Nathalie Latulippe, a lawyer with Quebec's Ministry of Justice)
- The challenge of ensuring the International Fund for Cultural Diversity is adequately resourced and focused in its scope (Ivan Bernier)
- The role of civil society in implementation of the convention at the national, regional and intergovernmental levels (Véronique Guèvremont, Professor with the Faculty of Law, University Laval)
Canada's Ambassador Laurin Elected to Chair First Two Committee Sessions
Canada's Ambassador to UNESCO, Gilbert Laurin, was elected to chair the Ottawa meeting and Committee Members agreed that he should also retain this role for the second meeting set to take place in Paris at the end of June.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Laurin emphasized the importance of keeping the debates of the meeting clearly focused on the actual scope of the Convention.
"This is a Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions," he stated, noting that while debates around broader notions of cultural diversity were certainly interesting, these went beyond the reach of the Convention.
Over and above announcing its contribution to the Fund, Canada also emphasized the importance of ensuring that the Fund was clearly focused and set priorities to ensure that its inevitably limited resources would have their greatest impact. On this count, it stated that it favoured projects that would assist developing countries in putting in place cultural policies, as well as initiatives to develop the capacity of the cultural sector of these countries.
Canada's delegation was also visibly active in making the case for a meaningful voice for civil society in the implementation process. This theme will be the subject of a dedicated consultation between non-governmental organizations and the members of the Intergovernmental Committee prior to the Committee's June Meeting, but Canada's efforts helped ensure that non-governmental organizations were given an opportunity to speak to each of the main themes on the agenda for the December meeting: structure and content of the Convention's operational guidelines; international cooperation; the Fund for Cultural Diversity; and the role of civil society in implementation of the Convention.
In the initial debate on the operational guidelines, Canada also emphasized that the draft outline should be revised to ensure that Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention, which address the relationship of the Convention with other international agreements and engage States Parties to the Convention to consult together to promote the principles and objectives of the Convention in other international forums, are given an operational dimension.
A more detailed recap of the debates of the Ottawa meeting, and the work plan the Committee set out leading up to the second Conference of Parties will appear in the December issue of Coalition Currents.
Intergovernmental Meeting Brings Busy Quarter to Close for Coalition
A meeting of coalitions and cultural organizations of the Americas, a CCD board meeting and participation in the First Intergovernmental Committee meeting for the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions marked the conclusion of an intense quarter of international and domestic work by the Coalition for Cultural Diversity Secretariat.
On the domestic front, on December 5, CCD Co-Chair Solange Drouin and Executive Director Jim McKee met with Craig Carson, Senior Policy Advisor for Minister of Canadian Heritage Josée Verner, and the Minister's Press Secretary, Richard Walker, to discuss the Coalition's work and priorities for the First Intergovernmental Committee meeting of the UNESCO Convention. A meeting with the Minister is now in the works for January.
On December 6, the CCD held a meeting of its board of directors in Ottawa. The meeting included a presentation by René Bouchard, Director General, International Relations, with the Department of Canadian Heritage, addressing Canada's priorities for the First Intergovernmental Committee meeting on the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which took place December 10-13 in Ottawa.
Jim McKee, in his capacity as General Secretary of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), was part of the IFCCD's delegation that attended the Committee meeting in an observer capacity.
In November, Jean-Luc Pilon, the Coalition's Manager of Operations and International Affairs, was in Bogotá, Colombia, to help stage a meeting of representatives of coalitions and cultural organizations from 14 countries of the Americas. The meeting, which focused on the current state of ratification in the region and the challenges of implementing the Convention at the national and regional as well as international levels, was organized by the Canadian CCD in partnership with the Colombian Coalition.
Also in November, Jim McKee was in Kampala, Uganda, for the Commonwealth People's Forum civil society meeting held on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Culture was on the agenda of the People's Forum for the first time, and one of the principal recommendations on this theme in the final statement relayed to Commonwealth Foreign Ministers was that all 53 member states should ratify the UNESCO Convention.
November 28-29 McKee was in Mexico to take part in a panel discussion on the role of civil society in the implementation of the UNESCO Convention. The seminar was held in the context of the Guadalajara Book Fair and was organized by the Government of Quebec.
In late October, McKee was in Bangkok to take part in a seminar on the implications of the UNESCO Convention for independent Asian cinema industries, held in the context of the World Film Festival of Bangkok.
Earlier in September, the Coalition staged a meeting of coalitions and cultural organizations from 11 African member countries of the Commonwealth in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting was organized in partnership with the newly-established South African Coalition for Cultural Diversity, with the financial support of the Commonwealth Foundation.
Also in September, the Coalition Secretariat worked with the Spanish Coalition to stage the Seville Congress of Coalitions September 18 and 19, culminating in the unanimous decision to formally establish the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD). Coalition Co-Chair Solange Drouin was elected Treasurer of the Federation, and Jim McKee was appointed by the Federation board to be the IFCCD's Secretary General. The IFCCD will be headquartered in Montreal and its incorporation should be through the Industry Canada process by early 2008.
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Editor: Jim McKee
Contributors:
Jean-Luc Pilon, Julie Masson
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