Paris, 12 September {No. 2000-84} - The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today advocated cultural diversity at a symposium entitled Parliament and Cultural Identity in a Globalized Context, held at the French National Assembly to mark the 30th General Conference of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association.

Koïchiro Matsuura spoke on the theme: Protection of Cultural Diversity in a Globalizing Economy. He said: "What is now customarily referred to as 'globalisation' began as an economic, financial, scientific and technological process; it involves new forms of social organization, and relies on new values for its establishment and its continued development."

Mr Matsuura highlighted the dangers posed by globalization: increased uniformity, the levelling of messages, the commercialisation of cultural heritage as well as of cultural goods and services, the loss of identities and the impoverishment of thought, which "in this way leads to a defensive withdrawal, to the exacerbation of particularisms and to the rise of intolerance." These dangers also pose a threat to freedom, with the appearance of "new, economic relationships of dominance, which render the institutions of democracy helpless." Yet civil society has resisted these changes, the Director-General said, adding: "We are probably witnessing the birth of an equally planetary civil society, based not necessarily on language or geographical proximity, but on hopes and fears, on shared references connected to the future of the species and of the environment."

Among these increasingly shared references, Koïchiro Matsuura highlighted the safekeeping of cultural diversity: "'Cultural diversity' is as vital to mankind's survival as 'natural diversity'." He continued: "We know that genetic diversity within a same species is a condition of its survival [...]. Protecting biodiversity is a profoundly ethical endeavor, one which allows man to meet his responsibilities towards the living environment he has inherited, which provides him so generously with the means to his survival, and which he will in turn bequeath to future generations. The same applies to human cultures."

The Director-General pointed out UNESCO's crucial role in this field: "UNESCO, which is the only United Nations organization to hold a cultural mandate, carries a heavy responsibility in this respect. As a laboratory of ideas, a catalyst for international cooperation and a forum for exchanging information, it must look to the future and be able to provide, including within the normative domain, answers to the great problems that arise in its fields of competence."

The Director-General then described the work UNESCO had done to promote cultural diversity. He referred, in particular, to the World Heritage Convention, under which cultural and natural heritages were associated to one another within one legal framework for the first time. He also pointed out that UNESCO is preparing to launch a new initiative for the protection of the intangible heritage, "which is perhaps the most vulnerable aspect of the cultural identity of the peoples of the world and which, in many places throughout the world, and in particular in developing countries, is in imminent danger of being lost for ever."

Mr Matsuura drew attention to the fact that, on the proposal of Canada, France and some fifty other authors, the General Conference last October passed a resolution inviting UNESCO to encourage further consideration of how cultural diversity, in all its various forms, might be promoted. "In a few days' time, an experts committee will meet on this topic, thereby satisfying a request put forward by the Organization's 188 Member States, as well as by Non-Member States such as the United States of America. They will then all have the opportunity to air their views," Koïchiro Matsuura said. He also announced that he had launched a vast written consultation, and that this theme would be at the heart of the second Round Table of Culture Ministers, due to take place next December at UNESCO Headquarters.

The Director-General continued: "It is along these two lines - concrete action on the tangible and intangible heritages, and the fostering of thought and general debate on the subject of cultural diversity - that UNESCO intends to work in the coming years."

He concluded: "If the globalisation of the economy is to have any meaning at all, it must focus on development for all and the elimination of poverty. It must provide everyone with more means to make their voice heard, and to bring their contribution to the dialogue between cultures and civilizations, which will be the object of the International Year of the United Nations in 2001. [...] Keeping one's identity intact, whilst at the same time developing the capacity to express oneself and communicate one's wealth to others, being able to benefit from better access to knowledge and the flourishing of creative forces, these are today an essential aspect of the harnessing of mankind's heritage: a heritage of the past and of the future. It is therefore necessary to reflect on the required means. We must build, build, in particular through normative action, the drawing up of strategies and of innovative policies, in establishing, reinforcing and stimulating relationships of cooperation."