UNESCO

Re |Shaping Cultural Policies, the first UNESCO
Global Report on the monitoring of the 2005
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of
the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was launched
in December. Among other issues, it analyses the
integration of culture in sustainable development
frameworks, and the promotion of human rights
and fundamental freedoms.
The power
of common rules
In October, UNESCO celebrated the tenth
anniversary of the Convention on the
Protection and Promotion of the Diversity
of Cultural Expressions. Now ratified by
141 Parties, the 2005 Convention provides
a framework to forge new pathways for
creativity and innovation in the pursuit
of inclusive, equitable and sustainable
growth and development. This anniversary
year offered an opportunity to create new
momentum towards its full implementation
as a roadmap for development.
In December, Irina Bokova launched
the first UNESCO report on impact of the
Convention. Re | Shaping Cultural Policies
takes stock of developments in the cultural
and creative industries. It looks at the trade
in the cultural products, notably between
developed and developing countries, and
investigates whether the Parties to the
Convention have stepped up their support
for cultural creation, encouraged media
diversity, and opened their markets to
cultural goods from developing countries.
The 2003 Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage sets out core ethical principles to
guide all safeguarding efforts. How can
those core principles be integrated into
one or more model codes of ethics that
could orient the work of different actors
in different contexts? And how can a
model code be translated effectively into
concrete, practical tools which can be used
in the day-to-day work of safeguarding?
An expert meeting in Valencia (Spain)
in April addressed these and related
questions. The Intergovernmental
Committee for the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage examined its
conclusions in its tenth session in Windhoek
(Namibia) in December, and these experts
will continue to work on these approaches.
In September, UNESCO participated in
the UN Sustainable Development Summit,
at which the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development was adopted. Building on the
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Mongol herders perform a coaxing ritual to
encourage a female camel to accept a newborn
calf or to adopt an orphan. The mother is
tied close to the calf and a singer begins
a monotone song accompanied by gestures
and chanting. As changes in the social and
cultural environment have negatively affected
its viability, this practice was inscribed on the
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of
Urgent Safeguarding in 2015.
© Yu Boldbaatar