Proclamation of May 21st as the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

The United Nations General Assembly with its Resolution A/RES/57/249 have declared the observance of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development in 2002, following UNESCO’s adoption of the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity which recognize the need to “enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence.”

UNGA RESOLUTION 57/249 on Culture and development.

 The General Assembly, 

Recalling its resolutions 41/187 of 8 December 1986, 46/158 of 19 December 1991, 51/179 of 16 December 1996, 52/197 of 18 December 1997, 53/184 of 15 December 1998 and 55/192 of 20 December 2000 on culture and development, Encouraged by the positive international response to the results of the work of the World Commission on Culture and Development and of the Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at Stockholm from 30 March to 2 April 1998, Recalling its resolution 56/8 of 21 November 2001, by which it proclaimed 2002 as the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage, Recalling also its resolution 53/22 of 4 November 1998 on the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations and its resolution 56/6 of 9 November 2001 on the Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations containing the Programme of Action and the objectives, principles and participants thereof, and recognizing that, in the light of recent events, the United Nations should give greater weight and visibility to the theme of dialogue among civilizations, cultures and religions, since the protection of cultural diversity is closely linked to the larger framework of the dialogue among civilizations and cultures and its ability to achieve genuine mutual understanding, solidarity and cooperation, Encouraged by the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg Plan of Implementation”), adopted on 4 September 2002,1 and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, also adopted on 4 September 2002,2 which urges the promotion of dialogue and _______________ 1 Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August–4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 2, annex. 2 Ibid., resolution 1, annex. A/RES/57/249 2 cooperation among the world’s civilizations and peoples, irrespective of race, disabilities, religion, language, culture or tradition, Underlining the fact that tolerance and respect for cultural diversity and universal promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to development, are mutually supportive, and recognizing that tolerance and respect for diversity effectively promote and are supported by, inter alia, the empowerment of women, Emphasizing the need to enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence, 

 1. Takes note of the report of the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on the implementation of resolution 55/192; 

 2. Notes with satisfaction the adoption by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization of the medium-term strategy for 2002–2007, which directs the work of the organization on two cross-cutting themes, namely, the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty, and the contribution of information and communication technologies to the development of education, science and culture and the construction of a knowledge society, and is based upon the notion that culture may contribute effectively to the reduction of poverty; 

 3. Welcomes the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by theGeneral Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization at its thirty-first session on 2 November 2001, and also welcomes the main lines of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Declaration appended thereto; 

 4. Proclaims 21 May the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, echoing the World Day for Cultural Development commemorated during the World Decade for Cultural Development; 

 5. Invites all Member States, intergovernmental bodies, organizations of the United Nations system and relevant non-governmental organizations: 

 (a) To ensure, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the implementation of the Action Plan; 

 (b) To implement the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace adopted by the General Assembly, respectively, in its resolutions 53/243 A and B of 13 September 1999;

 (c) To implement the Programme of Action of the Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations contained in section B of resolution 56/6; 

(d) To implement relevant provisions on cultural diversity of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development;

 (e) To strengthen international cooperation and solidarity in supporting national efforts of developing countries:

 (i) To gain access to new technologies;

 (ii) To receive help in mastering information technologies with a view to encouraging the production, safeguarding and dissemination of diversified contents in the media and global information networks, and, to that end, to promote the role of public radio and television services in the development of audio-visual productions of good quality, in particular by fostering the establishment of cooperative mechanisms to facilitate their distribution;

 (iii) To establish cultural industries that are viable and competitive at the national and international levels, in the face of the current imbalance in the flow and exchange of cultural goods at the global level; 

 (f) To assist in the emergence or consolidation of cultural industries in the developing countries, and, to that end, to cooperate in developing the necessary infrastructures and skills, fostering the emergence of viable local markets; 

 (g) To acknowledge the importance of preserving and developing cultural heritage, including by encouraging the strengthening of domestic policies in the fields of protection, incentive and promotion of the various cultures, mainly the most vulnerable; 

 (h) To formulate policies pertaining to tangible and intangible cultural heritage, taking into account, in particular, resolution 56/8, by which the Assembly proclaimed 2002 as the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage; 

 (i) To assess the interconnection between culture and development and the elimination of poverty in the context of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997–2006); 

 (j) To raise public awareness of the value and importance of cultural diversity, and, in particular, to encourage, through education and the media, knowledge of the positive value of cultural diversity, inter alia, as regards languages;

 (k) Within the framework of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and based on the main lines of the Action Plan,

5 to strengthen efforts towards the prioritization of the adoption of national policies that recognize the contribution of traditional knowledge, particularly with regard to environmental protection and the management of natural resources, fostering synergies between modern science and local knowledge and recognizing the traditional and direct dependence on renewable resources and ecosystems, including in the form of sustainable harvesting, that is essential to the cultural, economic and physical wellbeing of indigenous people and their communities; 

 6. Encourages the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to continue its work to promote greater awareness of the crucial relationship between culture and development and the important role of information and communication technologies in this relationship;

 7. Also encourages the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in conjunction, as appropriate, with other relevant United Nations bodies and multilateral development institutions, to continue to provide support, upon request, to developing countries, in particular as regards national capacity-building and access to information and communication technologies, for the A/RES/57/249 4 implementation of international cultural conventions, including with regard to conservation of heritage and the protection of cultural property, and for the return or restitution of cultural property, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 56/97 of 14 December 2001, on the return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin;

 8. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and other relevant United Nations bodies and multilateral development institutions, to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session a progress report on the implementation of the present resolution. 

78th plenary meeting 20 December 2002