GENERAL CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY, BIOETHICS
AND EDUCATION FOR ALL
Paris, October 12 (No.2001-103) - A new legal instrument
designed to safeguard cultural diversity in the age of globalization, the
preparation of new legal instruments on ethical issues relating to the gene
revolution and the international drive to provide universal access to quality
basic education will be among the principal items on the agenda of the upcoming
31st session of the General Conference, UNESCO’s supreme governing body,
October 15 to November 3.
Some 3,000 participants are expected to attend the General
Conference, including several heads of state and close to 200 government
ministers.
UNESCO’s 188 Member States, gathered at the General
Conference, will be invited to adopt a Declaration on Cultural Diversity to
preserve human dignity and to defend and promote cultural diversity, along with
an Action Plan for its implementation. It will be the first international
instrument in this field. The Declaration aims to serve as a benchmark in the
formulation of national cultural policies. It stresses the importance of greater
co-operation between the countries of the North and developing nations and
emphasizes the need to help the latter stimulate their cultural industries,
organize viable local markets and obtain access to international distribution
systems.
During the General Conference, some 50 ministers and deputy
ministers in charge of science will take part in a roundtable debate on “Bioethics:
International Implications” (October 22 and 23). It will be the first
international meeting on the subject to be held at such a high level. The
ministerial debate will review ethical issues that need to be addressed and
consider the possibility of developing a universal instrument covering bioethics
which would complement UNESCO’s 1997 Universal Declaration on the Human Genome
and Human Rights, the first international instrument in this field.1
The General Conference will draw on the work of UNESCO’s
International Bioethics Committee and Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee and
consider developing an international instrument on genetic data aiming to secure
confidentiality and avert the danger of discrimination based on the genetic
make-up of groups or individuals.
A High-Level Group on Education for All will bring together
some 30 key decision-makers, representatives of the donor community, civil
society and governments including education ministers, on October 29 and 30.
Assessing progress since the World Education Forum (Dakar, April 2000),
participants will debate ways to sustain political commitment, mobilize
resources and bolster civil society participation and partnerships with a view
to achieving the Forum’s target of providing universal quality basic education
by the year 2015.
As part of UNESCO’s standard setting work, the General
Conference will debate several other new international instruments:
*A draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Heritage,
the fruit of a 4-year process of UNESCO-led negotiations among Member States.
The Convention aims to safeguard underwater heritage and ban its commercial
exploitation. It recommends in situ preservation as the first option. It
seeks to protect heritage situated in the territorial waters of states, as well
as further away from their shores, on the continental shelf and in countries’
Exclusive Economic Zones, as well as on the deep seabed.
* The possibility of creating a new standard-setting
instrument for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, which
complements UNESCO’s first proclamation, earlier this year, of Masterpieces of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity that seeks to preserve cultural
spaces and forms of expression, seen as essential components of cultural
diversity;
* A definition of “acts constituting a crime against the
common heritage of humanity”, designed to improve heritage protection from
wanton destruction. Following on the destruction by the Taleban of the giant
Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan earlier this year, the General
Conference will consider reinforcing international protection given to cultural
heritage;
* Recommendations on the promotion and use of multi-lingualism
and universal access to cyberspace, including concrete measures to be taken at
the national and international levels, to foster an equitable and multicultural
information society. The recommendations were drafted following a series of
regional “infoethics” conferences, held last year. They particularly seek to
promote greater co-operation between the private and public sector in developing
access to the new information and communication technologies.
The General Conference, which brings together representatives
of UNESCO’s 188 Member States, will furthermore determine the Organization’s
Programme and Budget for the years 2002-2003 and define its strategy for the
years 2002-2007.
Some 3,000 participants are expected to attend the General
Conference, including several heads of state and close to 200 government
ministers.
An exhibition on cultural diversity will be held during the
General Conference which will also feature (October 16, 22 and 29) a series of
three evening performances showcasing six artistic traditions proclaimed as
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The exhibit, “Common
Heritage, Multiple Identities. Our Creative Diversity”, will be open to the
public from November 5 to 9.
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1 For the full text of the Declaration:
http://www.unesco.org/human_rights/hrbc.htm
…/
Journalists wishing to cover the General Conference should
contact UNESCO’s Press Service for accreditation: (+33) (0)1 45 68 17 44
More information about the General Conference, including its
agenda and documents, can be found on the Web: http://www.unesco.org/confgen/index.shtml
