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Second Conference of Parties to the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions: a first set of operational guidelines, a new set of implementation priorities, but silence on a major issue States attending the Second Conference of the Parties to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Paris June 15 and 16, 2009 approved a first set of operational guidelines for the Convention, elected 12 new members to the Convention’s Intergovernmental Committee and set priorities for the next two years of implementation. However, these priorities did not include development of operational guidelines for Articles 20 and 21, which address the relationship of the Convention to other international instruments, an issue fundamental to how the Convention will effectively serve to uphold the right of States to apply cultural policies. The question of whether operational guidelines for these key articles of the Convention will ultimately be developed was deferred to a future conference. States Parties attending the Conference quickly approved the entire package of proposed operational guidelines developed by the Intergovernmental Committee in the first phase of implementation work—pursued over the course of four meetings of the Committee between December 2007 and March 2009 supported by UNESCO’s Convention Secretariat throughout. The first set of guidelines focused on the following themes: measures to promote and protect cultural expressions (Articles 7, 8 and 17); partnerships between the public and private sectors and non-profit organizations (Article 15); the role and participation of civil society (Article 11); the integration of culture in sustainable development (Article 13); cooperation for development (Article 14) and use of the resources of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (Article 18); and finally preferential treatment for developing countries (Article 16). The Parties then established the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee for the next two years of implementation of the Convention. Once again, the decision-making process was brief and three articles were unanimously selected, namely: - Article 9 "Information Sharing and Transparency"; - Article 19 "Exchange, Analysis and Dissemination of Information" dealing with the exchange of information and expertise between the States Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions - Article 10 "Education and Public Awareness" which commits States to cooperate to raise public awareness with respect to the importance of the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. In addition, to bring greater visibility of the Convention, the Parties asked the Intergovernmental Committee to examine the feasibility of recruiting high-profile artists. As well, the Committee has been mandated to develop a fundraising strategy and to reflect on innovative financial mechanisms for the International Fund for Cultural Diversity. Originally scheduled to take place over four days, the Conference progressed with striking speed, and concluded after just two days because States rapidly approved the proposed package of operational guidelines and were equally quick to find consensus on priorities for the next two years. In so doing, States held no discussion regarding Articles 20 and 21, an issue fundamental to how the Convention will effectively serve to uphold the right of States to apply cultural policies. The Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie was the only intergovernmental organization to emphasize the importance of having the Intergovernmental Committee develop operational guidelines on Articles 20 and 21 which lie "[TRANSLATION] at the heart of the rationale for the Convention". The International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity intervened in support of this position. But the decision of the States was a fait accompli by the time these interventions were made. The question of the ultimate reach of the Convention, and specifically of Articles 20 and 21, was touched on in statements made by South Africa and Quebec’s representative in the Canadian delegation. These statements were made during the Conference’s closing session—after the priorities for 2009-11 implementation had been established. In the next issue of Coalition Currents, we will address the potential impact of the decision not to develop operational guidelines for Articles 20 and 21 over the next two years. The last major item of business for the Conference on its second day consisted of electing 12 new members to the 24-member Intergovernmental Committee, succeeding the 12 Committee members that had been elected to two-year terms at the first Conference in June of 2007. Divided into regional groups, the Conference of the Parties elected for Group I: Canada and France, for Group II: Albania and Bulgaria, for Group III: Cuba and Brazil, for Group IV: China and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, for Group V (a): Cameroon and Kenya, for Group V (b): Jordan and Tunisia. The new make-up of the Intergovernmental Committee can be found on UNESCO’s website for the Convention: http://www.unesco.org/culture/culturaldiversity/LIST_MEMBERS_IGC.pdf. Civil society organizations were accorded an opportunity to address the Conference on the closing day. The President of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), Rasmané Ouedraogo, spoke on behalf of the IFCCD (only available in French), the International Network on Cultural Diversity, Traditions for Tomorrow, the International Music Council, the International Theatre Institute and of the European Union of Public Broadcasters (EBU). Mr. Ouedraogo expressed particular satisfaction with the approval of the guidelines for Article 11, which set out an operational framework for engaging civil society in the Convention implementation process, and for Article 18, which the International Fund for Cultural Diversity can now be made operational. Regarding the work to be pursued over the next two years, Mr. Ouedraogo stressed the importance of working to ensure the Convention achieves its full potential, including promotion of its principles and objectives in other international forums. With this particular objective in mind, he noted that that Article 23 6 (e) of the Convention empowers the Intergovernmental Committee pursue this work, and offered the support of civil society organizations. 50 young cultural experts from 34 countries share their vision for cultural diversity in 2030 at the U40 World Forum Fifty young professionals active in the field of cultural diversity hailing from 34 countries met in Paris from June 12-18, 2009 to explore their vision for realizing true cultural diversity between now and 2030. The gathering, called the “U40 World Forum”, took place on the margins of the Second Conference of the Parties for the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which took place June 15 and 16. U40 World Forum brought together participants from various walks of life, including cultural professionals, civil society activists, government officials, members of national commissions for UNESCO, university professors and doctoral candidates. The range of their experience gave rise to stimulating exchanges. The Forum was launched with two-days of workshops held on various themes related to the implementation of the UNESCO Convention: how to enhance Convention’s visibility, concrete actions for putting into practice the Convention’s provisions in support of international cooperation in the cultural sphere, and how to increase funding for the International Fund for Cultural Diversity. The outcome of these discussions were consolidated into a text called "Proposals For Cultural Diversity in 2030", a two-page document distributed to the State delegations attending the Conference of the Parties. In the text, the U40 participants set out their "Vision for 2030" for the Convention in which they affirm that cultural diversity is an instrument to advance human progress and urge States that have ratified the Convention to adopt and implement cultural policies that address their specific needs. The significance of the active involvement of civil society in achieving this vision is underscored in this document. The document goes on to propose examples of actions and initiatives to achieve the goals of the Convention focused on three main themes, namely: "Visibility, Raising Awareness and Participation", "International Cooperation" and "The International Fund for Cultural Diversity". By virtue of being integrated into delegations of States Parties to the Convention or NGO delegations, the U40 participants were able to observe the entire proceedings of the Conference of the Parties. Their proposals were also presented verbally to representatives of the States Parties to the Convention immediately following the closing of the Conference on the afternoon of June 16 as part of an exchange conducted using Chatham House-rules (both informal and without attribution) to encourage open dialogue. At the conclusion of the U40 World Forum, participants identified several follow-up activities, including continuing information exchanges as part of an online discussion group, the compilation of best practices relating to cultural policies, the translation of the U40 proposals into the six official languages of UNESCO, work to identify possible private and public partners to bring resources of the Fund, and the possible creation of a delegation of U40 representatives to attend the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee. The U40 initiative was warmly welcomed by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, during his opening address at the Conference of the Parties: "[TRANSLATION] this Forum provided young specialists from the world over with the opportunity, at a timely moment, to participate in international deliberations on the diversity of cultural expressions and on the implementation of the Convention." The U40 meeting was organized by the National German Commission for UNESCO in conjunction with the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD). Click here to read the executive summary report of the U40-World Forum. The Mercosur Coalitions meet in Asunción, Paraguay Representatives of cultural professional organizations and coalitions from 10 countries met in Asunción, Paraguay, May 20 to 22 as part of the first Meeting of the Mercosur Coalitions and neighbouring countries. The meeting was organized jointly by the National Secretariat for Culture of Paraguay and the Paraguayan Coalition for Cultural Diversity. Close to 150 persons attended the opening ceremonies which took place at the National Congress of Paraguay with several members of Congress and local diplomatic authorities in attendance. Among the guests of honour were Enrique Gonzalez Quintana, Chairman of the National Congress, Ticio Escobar, Minister for Culture, Industry and Commerce, Iris Rocio Gonzalez, Senator and Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Culture, and Alejandra Diaz of the Paraguayan Coalition, who each welcomed the attendees. Following these speeches, Frédéric Vacheron, representative of UNESCO’s regional Mercosur office, and Jean-Luc Pilon, representative of the Secretariat of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), delivered presentations on the application of the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and on the challenges facing the coalitions and cultural organizations as part of the current campaign for ratification and implementation of the Convention. A public seminar on implementation of the Convention followed. During this seminar, which was attended by more than one hundred people, coalition representatives presented models of cultural policies currently in force in the various cultural sectors of their respective countries. These presentations enabled an exchange with the public, and also allowed for a consideration of concrete actions to implement the Convention. On the final day of the meeting, delegates from the coalitions and professional cultural organizations moderated industry roundtables along with representatives of Paraguayan organizations with a view to cooperating on the development of a national convention implementation action plan. The Mercosur coalitions also held a dedicated meeting of their own at which representatives reported on their activities at the local level since a previous meeting of the Coalitions of the Americas held in Bogotá in November 2007. Following lively discussions, the coalitions in attendance undertook to immediately begin work on a number of specific projects, which they included in the final declaration (in Spanish only). In particular, they resolved, with the coordination of the Paraguayan Coalition and in conjunction with the UNESCO Mercosur Office, to produce a publication presenting the activities of the coalitions in their respective countries. As well, the representatives of each of the coalitions committed to preparing reports focusing on the principal existing cultural policies in their countries. When completed, the reports will be posted on the IFCCD website and published as a CD-ROM that the coalitions can distribute at other events and gatherings. Finally, on Friday, May 22, the participants learned that members of Paraguay’s opposition parties had tabled a bill to abolish 15 governmental secretariats, including the one in charge of culture. The coalitions in attendance, in a show of support for the Paraguayan Coalition, immediately voiced their objection to this bill by drafting a letter to the members of Congress urging the members and senators to maintain the Secretariat for Culture. |
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