FIFTY CULTURE MINISTERS AT UNESCO ROUNDTABLE ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY: CHALLENGES TO THE MARKETPLACE

Paris, December 11 (No.2000-137) - The second roundtable of culture ministers opened today at UNESCO Headquarters bringing together more than 50 ministers or deputy ministers, as well as representatives of international organisations and non-governmental organisations, who will discuss the theme: 2000-2010 Cultural Diversity: Challenges of the Marketplace. From the outset, the roundtable emphasised the pivotal role UNESCO can play in this area.

In his opening address, Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura recalled that although globalisation is largely constituted of economic interaction between societies, there exist “other dimensions of life in society, made of symbols, of living together and of the life of the mind.” He spoke of politics, culture, knowledge and research, as well as education as being “a long process, indispensable for all others, and the constant creator, through transmission, of the human factor.” These dimensions, Mr Matsuura said, cannot be reduced to market forces but are “related to another sphere, enshrined as rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and which the United Nations system is mandated to defend.”

Speaking about the defence of these rights, many of which fall within UNESCO’s field of competence, Mr Matsuura said: “It behoves us today - considering that privatisation is making ever greater inroads into scientific, social and cultural life - to ensure the protection and reinforcement of education, culture and science as ‘public goods’. […] In view of the ‘mercantilisation’ of educational products, and more generally the deregulation of educational systems, educational service as a special good must be protected. The standardisation and impoverishment of curricula must be fought through the combined promotion of the diversity of cultural and linguistic references in educational contents, and of shared attitudes and values favouring ‘living together’.”

The Director-General added: “In a context where 90% of scientific research is carried out in developed countries and where 60% is conducted by the private sector, the growing gap must be bridged between those who can afford to profit effectively from scientific advances and the others. […] In this area too, we must defend scientific achievements as ‘global public goods’ and set the ethical rules which will place them at the service of all, thus laying the ground for peace and sustainable development. Finally, in the context of globalised exchanges, the formidable potential that they represent must be exploited for a better mutual knowledge between peoples and cultures.”

Mr Matsuura added: “UNESCO has a fundamental role to play in all these areas. […] On the one hand, by facilitating reflection and dialogue among all players of society, to favour the emergence and development of universal principles and norms that may guide your action. Today’s meeting is an excellent example. The proposals for a Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity that will be submitted to you are also a good illustration of the facilitating role that UNESCO can play […]. On the other hand, by developing normative actions and ensuring their application. In education, as in culture, the instruments have existed for a long time […]. The new instrument under preparation concerning intangible heritage, similar to the one which already exists for tangible heritage, should make it possible […] to preserve oral traditions, and the values and symbolic relations of which they are the vector, as a font of creativity.”

The first session, entitled Culture and Trade Today, and chaired by Norway’s Culture Minister Ellen Horn, opened with two contrasting presentations: Catherine Lalumière (France), former Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and Member of the European Parliament, praised UNESCO’s role in favour of protecting cultural diversity as it makes it possible both “to preserve and to imagine; to look inward and to open up to others”. After considering whether it was right “to preserve all cultures” and proclaiming that “respect for cultural diversity hinges on respect for the individual”, she reiterated that although culture is ubiquitous “cultural products are not like ordinary merchandise.”

Ms Lalumière said it was an important priority to protect intellectual and artistic property rights and to preserve know-how and local produce. She spoke in detail about the threat that “globalisation and the power of the United States” poses to the diversity of the audiovisual industry. She explained that defensive measures against the United States’ cultural hegemony, notably the principle of “cultural exception” and the use of quotas, cannot suffice and must be supported by an international instrument for the protection of cultural diversity. She said that although such an instrument would be difficult to develop, it would have a positive impact by consolidating and making official awareness about the importance of the diversity of cultural identity. Ms Lalumière argued that all should mobilise because defending cultural diversity contributes to the security of all: “Peace has a price which entails respecting the identity of each people, of every minority.”

Bruce A. Lehman, the President of the International Intellectual Property Institute who served from 1993 to 1999 as US Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patent and Trademarks, urged that the debate not be reduced to a “transatlantic context.” He declared that the most important question was “how to help the poorest countries to use their very rich and diverse cultures to improve their economic situation. Obviously this means they are going to have to sell those products on the rich markets of the USA and the European Union,” Mr Lehman stated.

He cited the example of Jamaica which fails to derive much economic benefit from its enormous wealth of music talent which generates US$1.2 billion dollars, according to a study by the United Nations Council on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This, Mr Lehman said, was because Jamaican artists lacked music publishers to look after their interests and new artists were signed by major record companies and left Jamaica.

He accused developed countries of not respecting their pledge to help developing countries realise the full economic benefit of their cultural heritage and creativity. “The principal focus should not be to get involved in the decades-old, parochial disputes between the USA and France - they can look after themselves - but how developing countries might fully exploit what is theirs and theirs alone,” Mr Lehman said in conclusion.

Several ministers then took the floor. Some expressed the need for recognition and for a legal framework for cultural diversity, while some also stressed that an exclusively protectionist approach would not be beneficial for these goods and services - i.e. cultural goods and services - which are not like others.

The afternoon session, chaired by Congolese Culture and Arts Minister Mambou Aimée Gnali, and entitled Equity and Balance in International Flows of Cultural Products featured presentations by David Hartridge, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director of Trade in Services, and Milagros del Corral, UNESCO’s Deputy Assistant Director-General for Culture.

Mr Hartridge declared that it was essential to preserve the right of artists to sell their works, for cultural goods and services to be open to trade and free circulation. He insisted that “WTO is a set of agreements freely negotiated and freely accepted by governments which have agreed to limit their sovereign right to interfere with trade.” Mr Hartridge further highlighted the flexible nature of these agreements which leave governments “the right to choose which services they include and to specify which limits they want to include.”

Mr Hartridge declared that there was an unjustifiable campaign against General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) which, he argued, gives “developing countries the right to liberalise trade more slowly and gradually than developed countries.” Explaining that cultural goods and services were not a separate category in the negotiations underway, Mr Hartridge insisted on governments’ right to determine which commitments and the extent of commitment they choose to make in any particular area.

The session examined concrete measures that would allow the international community to contribute to the creation of an open and competitive environment for the free circulation of cultural goods. Ms del Corral presented a UNESCO proposal aiming to create a Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity.

The Alliance particularly targets cultural goods and is based on a flexible partnership between the public and private sectors so as to protect and promote cultural diversity world-wide. Such a collective effort, based on the principles of self-regulation and partnership, would complement endeavours to establish a set of principles on cultural diversity which could be provided by the draft Declaration on Cultural Diversity whose preliminary considerations the culture ministers will examine tomorrow.

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