Highlights:

Vol. 5, No. 4 - November 2007

International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity Launched in Seville

The international movement of coalitions for cultural diversity took a major step forward in its evolution September 19 in Seville, Spain, when delegates from 37 countries agreed unanimously to establish the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD).

The IFCCD succeeds the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC). The ILC was established in 2003 to coordinate the activities of existing coalitions, support the ongoing creation of new coalitions and provide a common voice for the coalitions at UNESCO, the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP), and other forums in which the campaign for the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions is on the agenda.

The IFCCD will continue this work on a more formally-structured basis. The Federation will be incorporated in Canada, and its Secretariat headquarters will be in Montreal. France's Coalition for Cultural Diversity has been designated as the Federation's delegation to UNESCO.

Delegates attending the IFCCD's Founding Congress in Seville, which was hosted by the Spanish Coalition for Cultural Diversity, elected a 10-member board of directors, from which a President, three regional Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Secretary were elected.

Rasmane Ouedraogo, President of Burkina Faso's Coalition, was elected as first President of the IFCCD, and will serve a two-year term in this role.

• Asia/Pacific: Peter Shannon, President of New Zealand's CCD, for Asia/Pacific;
• Americas: Paulo Slachevksy, past president of Chile's CCD, for the Americas;
• Europe: Beat Santschi, President of the Swiss CCD, for Europe.

Solange Drouin, Co-Chair of the Canadian Coalition, was elected Treasurer, and Gerald Louise President of Mauritius's Coalition, was elected Secretary.

Also elected to the board were: Geraldo Moraes, President of Brazil's Coalition; Joe Mboule, President of Cameroon's Coalition; Pascal Rogard, President of the French Coalition; and Eduardo Bautista, President of the Spanish Coalition.

The board appointed Jim McKee, Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition, to the position of General Secretary for the Federation.

"It's a great honour to be elected," said Rasmane Ouedraogo, "The decision to constitute ourselves as a Federation really represents an historic step. It reflects the remarkable growth of our movement in just eight years. Today, we have coalitions in 42 countries, representing literally hundreds of organizations of artists,

"The creation of the Federation also reflects our shared conviction that there is a great deal of work ahead of us. We need to ensure much broader ratification, and we need to ensure that cultural professionals, through the coalitions, have a meaningful voice in effectively implementing the convention," he added.

• To call on all governments that have not yet ratified the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions to do so on a priority basis with the objective of reaching the goal of 150 ratifications by 2010;
  
• To work in support of ensuring geographical balance among the countries ratifying the convention, specifically by increasing the number of countries ratifying Asia, the Arab World, and Africa;
  
• To encourage and support the ongoing emergence of new national coalitions for cultural diversity in all parts of the world, notably within States that have not yet ratified the UNESCO Convention;
  
• To work to accelerate the pace of implementation of the convention through its organs-the Conference of Parties and the Intergovernmental Committee.

• Develop mechanisms for international cooperation as provided for in the Convention, notably by committing to contribute to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity on a significant and recurring basis, as well as by granting preferential treatment to artists and other cultural professionals from developing countries, and encouraging more balanced exchanges between developed and developing countries across the full spectrum of cultural expressions;
  
• Pursue the goals of the convention through the application of cultural policies at the regional, national and international levels using measures provided for by the convention as their frame of reference;
  
• Be consistent with the principles and objectives of the convention by systematically refraining from liberalization commitments affecting culture in trade negotiations;
  
• Ensure that mechanisms are established that provide for the active participation of civil society in implementing the convention, fulfilling the commitments made by States to this end as provided for in Article 11 of the Convention-specifically, by ensuring access and meaningful opportunities for civil societies to contribute to the work of the Convention's working bodies;
  
• Support the efforts of civil society organizations in implementing the objectives of the convention by making available the resources necessary for this;
  
• Ensure that civil society is engaged in the process for implementation at the international level through UNESCO's processes, but also in their own processes for implementation at the national level.

The Seville Congress was made possible with the financial support of Spain's Ministry of Culture and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, as well as of the Regional Government of Andalusia and the City of Seville in making the Seville Congress possible. Additional support was provided by the International Organization of La Francophonie, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, as well as Department of Canadian Heritage, the Government of Quebec, France's Ministry of Culture and Communications and France's Centre National de la Cinématographie.

"On behalf of our new Federation, I would also like to extend our gratitude to our hosts, the Spanish Coalition for Cultural Diversity, whose excellent work not only made the Seville Congress possible, but also made the experience of participants a memorable and enjoyable one," said Jim McKee, General Secretary of the IFCCD.

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IFCCD Meets with INCP Ministers for Exchange on Convention Implementation

Immediately following the Seville Congress, a delegation representing the new Federation met with Ministers of Culture attending the 10th Ministerial Meeting of the International Network on Cultural Policy for an exchange regarding the current state of the campaign to ratify the UNESCO convention and priorities for its effective implementation.

In its presentation, the IFCCD emphasized its own commitment to continue building the mobilization across civil society to promote the broadest possible ratification of the convention on a priority basis, as well as to engage in the processes for implementing the convention at UNESCO as well as at the regional and national levels.

With respect to implementation, the coalitions requested the support of all INCP members in ensuring that civil society organizations were meaningfully involved in UNESCO's implementation processes-including not only the Conference of Parties and meetings of the Intergovernmental Committee, but also in any working groups or advisory groups that may be established.

The coalitions also emphasized the importance of making quick progress on international cooperation initiatives to support the application of cultural policies and other actions to support the emergence of cultural industries in the developed world. To this end, they underscored the importance of all UNESCO member states, and notably those of the developed world, contributing to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity on a significant and recurring basis.

The Federation was represented by its President, Rasmane Ouedraogo, who was joined by Jorge Bosso, Vice President of the host Spanish Coalition for Cultural Diversity; Asia/Pacific Vice-President Peter Shannon; board member Geraldo Moraes of Brazil, and Diego Gradis, Vice-President of the Swiss Coalition for Cultural Diversity.

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Coalitions Meet with Francophonie Working Group on Cultural Diversity

The role of civil society in implementing the UNESCO convention was also a main agenda item for a September 24 roundtable in Paris organized by the working group on cultural diversity of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF).

The OIF has strongly supported the campaign for the UNESCO convention from its very earliest stages, and its members figure prominently among the initial group of countries that ratified the convention on a priority basis, ensuring it surpassed the minimum ratification threshold in record time for a standard-setting instrument on culture, entering into force on March 18 of this year, just 17 months after UNESCO's member states voted overwhelmingly to adopt it at the agency's 33rd General Conference in October of 2005.

La Francophonie is also well-represented on the Intergovernmental Committee for the convention-15 of 24 member states on the committee are OIF member states or associated countries.

Members of the working group affirmed their commitment to support the engagement of civil society in the process for implementing the convention, and also stressed the importance of continuing to work to promote ratification, including among member countries of La Francophonie that have not yet done so.

The IFCCD's President, Rasmane Ouedrago, headed up its delegation. He was joined by Adamou Mahamadou, President of Niger's Coalition for Cultural Diversity, Jim McKee, the Federation's General Secretary, and Michaela Kozaric, representing the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity.

The September roundtable with the coalitions was a follow-up to an exchange also held in Paris in March of this year. The working group's intention is to continue holding such exchanges with civil society on a twice-yearly basis.

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South African Coalition Hosts Meeting of Commonwealth Africa Cultural Organizations

The newly-created South African Coalition for Cultural Diversity hosted cultural organizations from a dozen member countries of the Commonwealth for a two-day meeting and public seminar September 10 and 11 in Johannesburg.

The two-day gathering focused on the implications of the new UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions for the development of cultural industries in African countries - and the role that civil society organizations can play in the implementation process for this convention at the national and regional levels, as well as at UNESCO.

The meeting brought together South African cultural professional organizations with delegates from other African Commonwealth countries, including Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritius, Swaziland and Botswana.

The South African CCD hosted the meeting in partnership with the South African Music Rights Organization (SAMRO) and the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (now the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity-see main story), which brings together CCDs in some 40 countries and was represented by the Canadian CCD in its capacity as ILC Co-Secretariat.

In the declaration adopted at the conclusion of the September 10th meeting, the delegates committed to work together to promote broader ratification of the UNESCO convention within their own countries and across the Commonwealth. To date, only Cameroon, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa have ratified from Commonwealth Africa, and participants emphasized the importance of ensuring much broader ratification of the convention.

In their declaration, participants also focused on implementation of the convention, and emphasized the importance of ensuring that the convention is effectively implemented, and that civil society is actively involved in this process, both at UNESCO as well as at the regional and national levels. To this end, they undertook to establish coalitions in their own countries, bringing together the major cultural organizations from every sector of culture.

They also emphasized the importance of States exercising the right affirmed in the convention to adopt and implement a broad range of national cultural policies in order to support significant levels of domestic production in all sectors of culture.

They also called on developed countries, in the context of implementing the convention, to actively engage in international cooperation initiatives to support the development of viable cultural industries in developing countries as provided for in Article 14 of the convention, notably by making significant contributions on a recurring basis to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity provided for in Article 18 of the Convention.

The September 10 meeting was followed by a public seminar on September 11 opened by keynote speaker, the Honourable Prof. Kader Asmal, a South African Member of Parliament who chaired UNESCO's intergovernmental negotiations on the Convention.

Professor Asmal, a former cabinet member in the government of Nelson Mandela who was involved in drafting South Africa's constitution, emphasised that human rights were the foundation of cultural expression and that civil society could play a fundamental role with government in implementing the principles enshrined in the Convention.

"The Convention was not about culture, but about aspects of cultural services", Asmal emphasized, adding its aim was to empower nations retain their right to apply cultural policies when engaged in negotiations for trade agreements with stronger economic partners.

"It was imperative that all sectors of the cultural industries get involved - the Convention's definition of scope within each country would only come through collaboration and co-operation between government, civil society and academia".

Andrew Firmin, Programme Manager of Culture and Diversity with the Commonwealth Foundation, emphasized the importance of civil society' role in making cultural diversity a priority within the Commonwealth. He noted that, for the first time, culture will be on the agenda of the Commonwealth People's Forum November 18-22 in Kampala, Uganda,

Nicholas Motsatse, CEO of SAMRO, added his voice to calls for Commonwealth countries in Africa to work together in both advocating the ratification of the Convention in those countries that had not yet done so, as well as entrenching the principles of the Convention. "Funding mechanisms should be explored for the implementation of projects related to the Convention", Motsatse added.

South Africa's Coalition for Cultural Diversity was launched just days earlier-at a September 7 meeting held at SAMRO house where a draft constitution was adopted and a six-member Executive Committee elected.

The SACCD Executive consists of: André le Roux, Chairman - Manager of SENA (SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts), Eugene Mthethwa - Executive Board Member of AIRCO (Association for Independent Record Companies), Basil Dube - General Secretary of SASWU (South African Script Writers' Union), Joseph Gaylard - General Secretary of VANSA (Visual Arts Network of South Africa), Dudley Schroeder - Executive Director of PASA (Publishers' Association of South Africa) and Monica Seeber Director of ANFASA (Academic and Non-Fiction Authors' Association of South Africa).

Andre Le Roux summed up an eventful week: "The formation of the SACCD and the significant attendance of African Commonwealth countries at the meeting of Coalitions and Cultural Professional Organizations, means that we have made important strides in giving Africa a strong voice in the implementation of the UNESCO Convention. Our challenge now is to get the Convention ratified in other African Commonwealth countries to enable us to really come together as a continent in this very important issue and to ensure that civil societies participate in implementing the Convention."

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