The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding
of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to live together
better.
On 5 May 2014, the UN General Assembly held a day-long debate
on “Culture and sustainable development in the post 2015 development
agenda.” Speakers underscored through country level testimonies and
global data how culture, in its manifold expressions ranging from
cultural heritage to creative industries, from sustainable tourism to
cultural infrastructure, drives and enables the social, environmental
and economic pillars of sustainable developments.
President of the United Nations General Assembly message for the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2014.
Statement attributable to the President of the General Assembly
United Nations, New York, 21 May 2014
On this World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and
Development, I encourage all of us to recognize the importance of
cultural diversity, both as a reflection of the richness of humankind,
and as essential to the flourishing of countries and communities across
the world.
As we approach 2015, the international community is seeking to
identify ways to promote inclusive socio-economic development across the
world. Development needs to be truly sustainable and should be adapted
to local contexts; it should rely on the cultural resources of countries
and peoples, while respecting cultural rights.
As highlighted by the United Nations General Assembly, culture
enables and drives development and should be mainstreamed in all
development programmes. It ought to be recognized as such in the
Post-2015 Development Agenda. Culture also drives development within a
number of sectors including tourism and heritage. Moreover, a respect
for cultural diversity is necessary to address both the economic and
human rights dimensions of poverty and to promote quality education,
sustainable cities and urbanization, sustainable environmental
practices, and inclusive societies.
The Special Thematic Debate on Culture and Sustainable
Development, which I convened on May 5, as mandated by the General
Assembly in its third resolution on this subject, gathered more than 250
participants, all of whom concurred that there can be no sustainable
development without cultural diversity. I encourage ongoing efforts by
Member States and other stakeholders in this regard and hope these
issues will be underscored in the current and forthcoming process of the
Post-2015 Development Agenda.
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| Cultural Diversity and Creativity |
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| Cultural Diversity and International Solidarity |
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| Identity, Diversity and Pluralism |
Our cultural diversity is the common heritage of humanity. It is a
source of renewal of ideas and societies, through which we open up to
others and craft new ways of thinking. This diversity provides
opportunities for peace and sustainable development.
In the final push to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals, UNESCO is continuing to strengthen its advocacy and action in
favour of the link between culture and sustainable development. The
resolution adopted in December 2013 by the United Nations General
Assembly, recognizing the role of culture as a driver and enabler of
sustainable development, is an invitation to further mobilize the
potential of cultural diversity. This diversity is a valuable resource
for attaining development goals, including fighting poverty and
promoting gender equality, quality education and human rights, and we
must fully integrate it into the global strategies for sustainable
development.
The United Nations Creative Economy Report 2013, co-published
by UNESCO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), confirms
that the creative economy is one of the most rapidly growing sectors in
the world. Figures show that world trade in creative goods and services
totalled a record $624 billion in 2011 and that it more than doubled
from 2002 to 2011. From audio-visual design to production, performing
arts to new media, publishing to the visual arts, our cultural diversity
is a creative diversity. It is a source of employment and income,
conveying identities and collective benchmarks, contributing to social
cohesion and self-esteem in our globalized world.
The greatest strength of cultural goods and services lies in their
dual, economic and cultural nature. This specificity offers a response
to the growing demands for more integrated policies, capable of
addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of
development. Culture is not a commodity like any other, and this
principle, which is internationally recognized by the UNESCO Convention
on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions, adopted in 2005, is a guiding principle for forging more
innovative and sustainable development strategies.
We have entered a new age of limits – in terms of resources,
in terms of the planet – and our response must be to unleash our most
powerful renewable resource, human intelligence and creativity. Our
cultural diversity is a stimulator of creativity. Investing in this
creativity can transform societies. It is our responsibility to develop
education and intercultural skills in young people to sustain the
diversity of our world and to learn to live together in the diversity of
our languages, cultures and religions, to bring about change.
Today, I call on Member States of UNESCO to carry this
message to the highest level, to include culture and cultural diversity
in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. We must make culture a
priority now.
Irina Bokova
The film illustrates through motion graphics and photographs how the
International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) invests in creativity
to transform societies. Established under the 2005 UNESCO Convention on
the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions,
the IFCD is the international cultural cooperation platform that
supports over 60 projects on entrepreneurship and business development,
new technologies and innovation, empowering individuals and social
groups. The film encourages viewers to make contribution to the
IFCD in
order to invest in creativity in developing countries and transform
societies towards achieving sustainable development.
Decision makers, cultural entrepreneurs and practitioners in the global
South use IFCD investments to develop policies, markets and training
opportunities that strengthen their culturally unique cultural
industries. Thanks to our governmental and private donors, we have
raised US$ 6.4 million, which has helped support 61 projects across 40
countries so far.
The IFCD is multi-donor Fund established under Article 18 of the
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions.
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| UNESCO - International Fund for the Promotion-of Cutural Diversity (IFCD) |
