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Convention on Cultural Expressions

Since its first meeting in Santorini, Greece in 2000, INCD has been in the forefront of the campaign to build support for a new international treaty on cultural diversity. At the meeting of its General Conference in 2005, UNESCO adopted the Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. The Convention came into force on 18 March 2007 .

INCD is now working for widespread ratification of the Convention and to ensure that it is implemented as effectively as possible.

INCD

• Convention on Cultural Expressions home page at UNESCO
  
• INCD Response to the Convention:
  In this article, INCD Executive Director Garry Neil reviews the background to the Convention and analyzes the outcome against the objectives of its key proponents. The article appears in the book Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions: Making it work, edited by Nina Obuljen and Joost Smiers and published in 2006 by the CultureLink. Network. Information is available at: www.culturelink.org .
  
• At its Annual Meeting in Dakar in 2005, INCD delegates approved the following report concerning the UNESCO Convention.

Background Documents:

• INCD Comments and Recommendations on the Implementation of the UNESCO Convention, April 2007
  
• INCD celebrates adoption of UNESCO Convention, Press Release October 20, 2005
  
• INCD Position on New UNESCO TREATY, Press Release June 3/05
  
• INCD Proposal for UNESCO Convention
  
• INCD Comments on UNESCO Process September 2004 – June 2005, plus INCD Comments
  
• Legal Assessment of the Relationship of the Convention to Other Treaties April 2005
  

Archives

Draft texts:

• INCD: Proposed Convention on Cultural Diversity (pdf file)
• INCP: International Instrument on Cultural Diversity
• SAGIT: An International Agreement on Cultural Diversity: A Model for Discussion

Reference Documents:

INCD:

• Convention on Cultural Diversity: Background
• Convention on Cultural Diversity: Governance Issues
• A New International Instrument for Cultural Diversity: Questions and Answers  Ivan Bernier
• A New International Instrument for Cultural Diversity: Some Parameters of a Possible Instrument  Peter Grant
• A New International Instrument for Cultural Diversity: A Roadmap for the INCD Garry Neil
• The Convention on Cultural Diversity - What The Professionals Need - in french Katerina Marinaki

Others:

• UNESCO: Preliminary Study on the Technical and Legal Aspects Relating to the Desirability of a Standard Setting Instrument on Cultural Diversity (pdf)
• INCP: Options and Issues for the Implementation of an Instrument: Depositary, Mechanism and Strategy (pdf)