Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity
Adopted by the 31st Session of UNESCO's General Conference, Paris, 2
November 2001.
Article 5
Cultural rights are an integral part of human rights, which are universal,
indivisible and interdependent. The flourishing of creative diversity
requires the full implementation of cultural rights as defined in Article
27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Articles 13 and
15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and cultural Rights.
All persons should therefore be able to express themselves and to create
and disseminate their work in the language of their choice, and particularly
in their mother tongue; all persons should be entitled to quality education
and training that fully respect their cultural identity; and all persons
should be able to participate in the cultural life of their choice and
conduct their own cultural practices, subject to respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms.
Article 6
While ensuring the free flow of ideas by word and image care should
be exercised that all cultures can express themselves and make themselves
known. Freedom of expression, media pluralism, multilingualism, equal
access to art and to scientific and technological knowledge, including
in digital form, and the possibility for all cultures to have access
to the means of expression and dissemination are the guarantees of cultural
diversity.
MAIN LINES OF AN ACTION PLAN FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE UNESCO UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY
The Member States commit themselves to taking appropriate steps to
disseminate widely the "UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural
Diversity", in particular by cooperating with a view to achieving
the following objectives:
[…]
5. Safeguarding the linguistic heritage of humanity and giving support
to expression, creation and dissemination in the greatest possible number
of languages.
6. Encouraging linguistic diversity - while respecting the mother tongue
- at all levels of education, wherever possible, and fostering the learning
of several languages from the youngest age.
[…]
10. Promoting linguistic diversity in cyberspace and encouraging universal
access through the global network to all information in the public domain.
Note: The full text of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity
is available at http://www.unesco.org/culture/pluralism/diversity/html_eng/index_en.shtml
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