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CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION
OF THE DIVERSITY OF CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS
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The
UNESCO Convention on the diversity of cultural expressions entered into
force on March 18, 2007. To date, the Convention has been ratified by
93 member States of UNESCO.
The Convention aims 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,
while ensuring the free flow of ideas and works.
- Give
recognition to the distinctive nature of cultural activities, goods and
services as vehicles of identity, values and meaning.
- Redefine new modalities for the international cooperation, keystone of the Convention.
- Create conditions for cultures to flourish and to interact freely in a mutually beneficial manner.
- Give a main part to the civil society in the implementation of the Convention.
States that ratify the Convention undertake to:
- Endeavour
to promote in their territory the creation of an environment which
encourages individuals and social groups to create, produce,
disseminate, distribute, and have access to their cultural expressions,
on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to have access to diverse
cultural expressions within their territory and from other countries of
the world;
- Acknowledge the
fundamental role of civil society in protecting and promoting the
diversity of cultural expressions by encouraging the active
participation of civil society in efforts by Parties to achieve the
objectives of the Convention (Article 11).
- Respect their commitment and act accordingly in the signing of any new agreement on free trade (Articles 20 and 21)
- Ensure
information sharing and transparency by providing appropriate
information in their reports to UNESCO on measures taken to protect and
promote the diversity of cultural expressions;
- Foster
the public’s understanding of the importance of the diversity of
cultural expressions through educational and public-awareness
programmes.
- Incorporate
culture into sustainable development and strengthen international
cooperation in support of developing countries by several means, for
instance, by strengthening their cultural industries, building their
capacities to develop and implement cultural policies, technology
transfer, financial support and preferential treatment for their
artists and other cultural professionals and for their cultural goods
and services.
Follow-up bodies of the Convention
- The
Conference of Parties is made up of signatory States and serves as the
plenary and supreme body of the Convention. Party States are convened
to meet in ordinary session every two years. Following the Convention’s
entry into force on March 18, 2007, the first session of the Conference
of Parties was held in Paris in June 2007. This Conference established
the Intergovernmental Committee of the Convention composed of 24
elected delegates. The next Conference will take place in March 2009.
- The
Intergovernmental Committee is responsible for promoting the objectives
of the Convention and encouraging and monitoring its implementation in
a spirit of transparency and vigilance. In December 2007, the
Committee’s first meeting was held in Ottawa, signalling the official
launch of implementation of the Convention. Two of the key objectives
were to foster international cooperation in support of developing
countries and to involve civil society in the implementation of the
Convention.
The
Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions is officially in force. It is now up to each of us
to ensure that it survives and flourishes.
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