The Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity at the International Level

NCCR Trade Regulation Working Paper No. 2009/10

CULTURAL DIVERSITY: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES, Lydia B. Kerwin, ed., Nova Science Publishing, 2009

19 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2009 Last revised: 21 Oct 2010

Date Written: April 1, 2009

Abstract

The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in 2005, entered into force on 18 March 2007 after an incredibly swift ratification process. The Convention is the culmination of multiple-track efforts that spread over many years with the objective of providing a binding instrument for the protection and promotion of cultural diversity at the international level. These efforts, admirable as they may be, are not however isolated undertakings of goodwill, but a reaction to economic globalisation, whose advancement has been significantly furthered by the emergence of enforceable multilateral trade rules. These very rules, whose bearer is the World Trade Organization (WTO), have been perceived as the antipode to "culture" and have commanded the formulation of counteracting norms that may sufficiently "protect" and "promote" it.

Against this backdrop of institutional tension and fragmentation, the present chapter explicates the emergence of the concept of cultural diversity on the international policy- and law-making scene and its legal dimensions given by the new UNESCO Convention. It critically analyses the Convention's provisions, in particular the rights and obligations of the State Parties, and asks whether indeed the UNESCO Convention provides a sufficient and appropriate basis for the protection and promotion of a thriving and diverse cultural environment.

Keywords: Trade, culture, cultural diversity, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the World Trade Organization

Suggested Citation

Burri, Mira, The Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity at the International Level (April 1, 2009). NCCR Trade Regulation Working Paper No. 2009/10, CULTURAL DIVERSITY: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES, Lydia B. Kerwin, ed., Nova Science Publishing, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1370440

Mira Burri (Contact Author)

University of Lucerne ( email )

Frohburgstrasse 3
PO Box 4466
Lucerne, 6002
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.unilu.ch/mira-burri

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