International Network for Cultural Diversity

Newsletter – April 2003

Vol. 4, No 4

Contents:

INCD News and Events
UNESCO Executive Board: Convention on Cultural Diversity
UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development Launched
Halifax Meeting of Experts
WTO’s Doha Round Breaks Down
Events and Announcements

INCD News and Events

INCD Fourth Annual Conference

Advancing Cultural Diversity Globally:

The Role of Civil Society Movements

In partnership with the Culturelink Network

Opatija, Croatia

October 11-13, 2003

Agenda and Registration Material Now Available Online:

www.incd.net/events/2003conference.html

For more information: incd-opatija@irmo.hr

Asian INCD Conference

The Right to Cultural Diversities: Asian Perspectives and Strategies

New Delhi, India

Aug 30-Sept 2, 2003

www.incd.net/events/meetings.html

For more information: incdasia@vsnl.net

2. UNESCO Executive Board Considers Recommendation on Developing a Legally-Binding Convention on Cultural Diversity

UNESCO’s Director General Koïchiro Matsuura has urged the Executive Board to place on the agenda of the 2003 UNESCO General Conference the issue of developing a legal instrument on cultural diversity. This recommendation comes as a result of the proposal put to him in February by a delegation of culture ministers acting from the International Network on Cultural Policy.

While this is an important step in the development of a new convention, there is still a long road ahead before any Convention will be ready for ratification by member States. There is need to ensure that a sufficient number of countries will support the proposal at the Executive Board and General Council meetings. There is also need to ensure that the outcome is adequate and timely. Given that the objective is to have a legally binding treaty that can act as a buffer against challenges to cultural policies under the trade agreements, analysis of the preliminary study prepared by UNESCO officials reveals areas of potential concern.

The recommendation to the Executive Board is contained in this preliminary study on aspects of establishing such a treaty under UNESCO’s auspices. The report reviews the background to the proposal, including an assessment of UNESCO’s own commitment to this issue expressed in its 2001 Declaration on Cultural Diversity. There is recognition of the work and position of the INCD:

“The International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD), which brings together artists, cultural activists, cultural bodies and creative industries, stresses the need for an instrument guaranteeing support to artists and the involvement of civil society and encouraging States to adopt a proactive, rather than defensive, position regarding cultural policies.”

The report acknowledges there are several dimensions to consider, including the links between cultural diversity, human rights and cultural rights; and the links between diversity, creativity and cultural policies. It analyses a number of existing international agreements and UNESCO’s own declarations to review some of the matters that would need to be addressed in a legally binding treaty. Given the difficulties the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention has experienced, there is a potentially significant statement that, “given the close conceptual links that exist between cultural diversity and intangible cultural heritage, the finalization of the convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage will provide a sound conceptual basis for a new instrument on cultural diversity.”

It next reviews “prospects and options for future standard-setting action” and several potential challenges emerge. It postulates that the central purpose of the new instrument is to establish a link “between the preservation of cultural diversity and the goals of development, notably through the promotion of creative activity and the cultural goods and services through which such activity is expressed.” It then goes on to conclude, “The goal is to define a set of general cultural policy principles in such a way to ensure the necessary autonomy in national policy while guaranteeing balanced international cooperation.”

The report identifies “areas of cultural diversity in the context of globalization which do not yet enjoy adequate protection under existing conventions or recommendations.” It invites discussion of filling the gaps in the following ways:

(a) a new comprehensive instrument on cultural rights

(b) an instrument on the status of the artist

(c) a new protocol to the Florence Convention (which governs the importation of cultural, scientific and educational materials)

(d) protection of the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions.

On first review, the difficulty is that each of these, while offering some possibilities, is narrow in scope and unlikely to be able to support the full range of substantive provisions envisaged for the new convention by both the INCD and the INCP.

Finally, the report analyzes the formal process involved for UNESCO to adopt a new treaty. The Executive Board must approve this report and a majority of States represented at this October’s General Conference must vote in favour of the recommendation. If that happens, the Director General will be instructed to draft (with support from appropriate member States and experts) the terms of the convention and return the proposal to the General Conference meeting in 2005.

However, the report itself is more circumspect in this regard, observing only that if this year’s Conference approves the recommendation, “a preliminary report, possibly accompanied by a preliminary draft convention, could be submitted to the General Conference at its 33^rd session in the autumn of 2005.” There are many qualifiers in that sentence.

8 April 2003

Garry Neil

UNESCO Preliminary Study on the Technical and Legal Aspects Relating to the Desirability of a Standard Setting Instrument on Cultural Diversity: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=extd&req=2&by=2&ord=1&look=ex&sc1=1&dc=166+EX%2F28 - available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese

UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development Launched

The United Nations has proclaimed that May 21 be “World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development”. In a resolution put forward in February, the General Assembly emphasized the important work of UNESCO’s World Commission on Culture and Development and called on governments, inter-governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations to implement the Stockholm Action Plan. The UN welcomed the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and underlined the vital links between cultural diversity, peace and sustainable development. There is special mention made of the role of cultural industries and new technologies in poverty eradication.

The INCD welcomes the UN’s recognition of the value of cultural diversity and hopes that this day will raise awareness of the global movement to protect and promote cultural diversity.

The text of the Resolution is available at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/r57.htm - scroll down to: Resolution A/RES/57/249

4. Halifax Meeting of Experts: Cultural Diversity and the Proposed New Convention on Cultural Diversity

Representatives from 25 countries of the Americas, including both government and civil society groups, met March 27-28 in Halifax. This Experts Meeting was a follow up to the first such meeting that took place last year in Vancouver as part of the work-plan agreed to by hemispheric leaders at their Quebec City Summit in 2001. That Summit also established the timetable for negotiation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Sponsored and chaired by the Department of Canadian Heritage, the primary focus of the meeting was the proposed new international convention on cultural diversity. Representatives from other key governments, such as France and Finland, also attended as they were in Halifax to continue the process of drafting the version of the convention being put forward by the International Network on Cultural Policy. Trade and commerce officials from several countries benefited from the discussion of the implications of the ongoing trade negotiations for cultural policy.

Delegates were brought up to date on developments, including the agreement of the UNESCO Director General to recommend to the Executive Board that UNESCO assume responsibility for elaborating the legally binding treaty. The meeting received reports from the International Network for Cultural Diversity and the meeting of professional cultural organizations held in Paris in February. The INCD was represented at the meeting by Steering Committee members Megan Williams, Rafael Segovia and James Early, Coordinator Garry Neil, and long time member Bruce Paddington, a filmmaker from Trinidad and Tobago.

One of the key lessons of the meeting is the fact there is an urgent need to continue to increase awareness of the proposed new global convention. Despite the previous meetings and the information from the INCP and other sources, many of the government representatives were still unsure about the purpose or potential of the new convention.

7 April 2003

Garry Neil

5. WTO’s Doha Development Round Breaks Down

The much-ballyhooed Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO – www.wto.org) is supposed to change the nature of international trade by opening markets for products of developing nations. But, a recent meeting of the WTO’s trade committee in Geneva demonstrated how difficult it will be to reach the consensus needed to achieve progress in the talks.

WTO negotiators are confronting significant challenges in key areas and the pace of discussions overall has slowed. Negotiators failed to meet two deadlines established for them in Doha. They failed to agree on the “modalities” of the agricultural talks by the March 30 deadline. They also failed to reach agreement on the meaning of certain parts of the TRIPS agreement in response to concerns of developing countries for improved access to the generic alternatives to patented medicines which they need to combat serious health problems such as AIDS and malaria. The main culprits are the European Union and the United States, which refuse to eliminate agricultural subsidies and continue to defend the interests of the big pharmaceutical companies.

The pressure is growing as the WTO prepares for its 5^th Ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, September 10-14, 2003. The Cancun Ministerial is intended not only to give impetus to the existing negotiations, but also to reach “explicit consensus” on opening negotiations on the new “Singapore” issues: investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation. Many developing countries argue that existing imbalances in the trading system must be corrected before new issues can be addressed.

For the cultural sector, this is good news on the one hand and worrying on the other. Every delay at the WTO gives us more time to establish the Convention on Cultural Diversity. But it also means a change in the US strategy, which increasingly favours the negotiation of bilateral trade agreements. In some bilateral talks, cultural policies may be at greater risk because of the direct pressure the US can apply, and if a government liberalizes an area in a bilateral agreement, they will be more inclined to continue that trend multilaterally.

While the General Agreement on Trade in Services is one of WTO agreements, it has its own timetable. The deadline for countries to make “offers” in response to the requests they have received in services negotiations has come and gone. The EU and Canada have both released information on the offers they have tabled and neither contemplates commitments in audiovisual or other cultural services. Other countries believe trade negotiations are confidential and there is no obligation to release information on their offers, however, it would be a surprise if countries made significant commitments in these sectors. This is not the end of the game, however, as the negotiations are really only heating up as the process builds toward Cancun.

For background information on the WTO and culture, please read WTO’s New Round of Trade Negotiations: Doha Development Agenda Threatens Cultural Diversity.

Events and Announcements

If we have missed your organization’s event, please contact the Secretariat at incd@ccarts.ca for inclusion in the next newsletter.

The International Federation of Translators has released a Manifesto on Behalf of Cultural Diversity. They are calling on all professional translators to sign the manifesto, which speaks of the “fundamental need to safeguard and promote works of the imagination and intellect beyond linguistic frontiers and of the primordial responsibility of translators as the central players, from time immemorial, in communicating the ideas and values of humanity”.

The Manifesto may be signed electronically (manifesto@fit-ift.org). Signatures can be also sent by fax (+1-514-845 99 03) or by mail to the International Federation of Translators:

FIT

2021 Avenue Union, bureau 1108

Montréal, Québec

Canada H3A 2S9

Or go to:

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/ev.php?URL_ID=1542&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC

Intellectual Property in the Knowledge Economy – WIPO Seminar

24-26 April 2003

China

Contact:

T:(022) 338 9547

F: (022) 338 88 10

publicinf@wipo.int

Eculture: The European Perspective

Culturelink Network

24-27 April

Zagreb, Croatia

http://www.culturelink.org/eculture.html

Critical Globalization Conference

“Towards a Critical Globalization Studies:

Continued Debates, New Directions, and Neglected Topics"

Co-sponsored by UCSB and the Global Studies Association

May 1-4, 2003

Santa Barbara, CA

How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures

Santa Clara University,

May 28, 2003

Santa Clara, USA

408-551-6040

sbachman@scu.edu

http://www.scu.edu/events/?sched=3352&fuseaction=event

The Third International Congress of Culture and Development

9-12 June 2003

La Habana, Cuba

Contact: Ms. Mirtha Padrón, Executive Secretary, Centro Nacional de Superación para la Cultura, Calle 15, #754, entre Paseo y 2, Vedado, Cuidad de La Habana, Cuba CP 1040

T (537) 55369/ 552300/ 552299

F(537) 552301/ 662283

csuper@cubarte.cult.cu

Free Trade vs Cultural Diversity:

The WTO Negotiations in the field of Audiovisual Services

University of Lucerne

June 10, 2003

Lucerne, Switzerland

http://www.unilu.ch/dokumente/dokus_rf/Tagung_I-Call_2003.pdf
http://www.unilu.ch/rf/4945.htm

Languages, Cultures, Ideologies and Identities in the Andes

51^st International Congress of Americanists

14-18 July 2003