9.4 UNESCO cultural-diversity perspective concept of “diversity” stipulated that plurality is the necessary requirement for freedom and that, in political terms, such pluralism is inseparable from a democratic society. The Declaration stated that “Freedom of expression, media pluralism, multilingualism, equal access to art and to scientific and technological knowledge, including in digital form, and the possibility for all cultures to have access to the means of expression and dissemination” constitute essential guarantees of cultural diversity and of development. Though it also represents a challenge to cultural diversity, the globalization of the economy and trade creates the conditions for a renewed dialogue among cultures and civilizations based on human rights and respect for their equal dignity.22
In recent years, the United Nations has increasingly recognized the inalienable role of culture in development and has focused programming accordingly. The conviction was evident in General Assembly Resolution 57/249 of 20 February 2003 on Culture and Development. The resolution directly commented on the potential of cultural industries for poverty reduction, noting that the General Assembly:
The Declaration led to the approval of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions by the UNESCO General Conference on 20 October 2005. As a legally binding international agreement, it ensures that artists, cultural professionals and citizens worldwide can create, produce, disseminate and have access to a diversity of cultural goods, services and activities, including their own. The Convention was adopted because the international community signalled the urgency of recognizing the distinctive nature of cultural goods, services and activities as vehicles of identity, values and meaning and emphasized that while cultural goods, services and activities have important economic value, they are not mere commodities or consumer goods that can be regarded as objects of trade. As of July 2010, there are 112 Parties to the Convention.
5. Invites all Member States, intergovernmental bodies, organizations of the United Nations system and relevant non-governmental organizations: (iii) To establish cultural industries that are viable and competitive at the national and international levels, in the face of the current imbalance in the flow and exchange of cultural goods at the global level; (iv) To assess the interconnection between culture and development and the elimination of poverty in the context of the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006). The importance of culture in development strategies was underscored with the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in November 2001 and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002. For the first time, cultural diversity was acknowledged as “the common heritage of humanity” and its defence was deemed to be an ethical and practical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity. The
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9 The international dimension of creative-industries policy
The Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development convened by UNESCO in Stockholm in 1998 after several years of research and preparation reflected growing international interest in identifying more successful models for sustainable development. UNESCO’s main goal at the conference was to transform the ideas behind this initiative into more clearly formulated cultural policies and modalities for international cultural cooperation. The conference concluded that cultural policies, as the true driving force in cultural diversity, must foster the production and dissemination of diversified cultural goods and services, especially in terms of the promotion of cultural industries and creative enterprise in all countries.
Since the Convention entered into force in March 2007, its governing bodies (the Conference of Parties and the Intergovernmental Committee) have approved a set of operational guidelines that are serving as a road map for the implementation process, currently in its early stages. These guidelines demonstrate how the Convention ushers in a new international framework for the governance and management of culture by: ■
encouraging the introduction of cultural policies and measures that nurture creativity, provide access for creators to participate in domestic and international marketplaces where their
UNESCO (2005). Ten Keys to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. UNESCO (2007). “L’UNESCO et la question de la diversité culturelle 1946-2007, Bilan et stratégies”. C R E AT I V E E C O N O M Y R E P O R T 2 0 1 0
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