The “right to take part in cultural life” under article 15 of the ICESCR

International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Volumn 47, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 904-923

  O'keefe, Roger ^a  

^a Cambridge Commonwealth Society (FCCS)   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 84969673567     PISSN: 00205893     EISSN: 14716895     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S002058930006259X     Document Type: Article

References (183)

1. “Fans kick up stink on strike”, Guardian, 20 Mar. 1996, p.11.
2. 993 U.N.T.S. 3, adopted 1966, in force 1976.
3. Reproduced in I. Brownlie (Ed.), Basic Documents in International Law (4th edn, 1995), p.263.
4. For the meagre secondary material available on Art.15 and its forerunner in the Universal Declaration (Art.27), see H. Nieć “Human Right to Culture” (1974) 44 Yearbook of the AAA 109
5. B. Boutros-Ghali, “Droit a la culture et la Declaration Universelle des Droits de I'Homme” (1968) 24 Rev. Egyptienne Droit Int. 67
6. Y. Dinstein, “Cultural Rights” (1979) 9 Israel Ybk. H.R. 58, esp. 73–79
7. G. Melander, “Article 27”. in A. Eide et al. (Eds), The UDHR: A Commentary (1992), p.429
8. R. Stavenhagen. “Cultural Rights and Universal Human Rights”, in A. Eide, C. Krause and A. Rosas (Eds), Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Textbook (1995), p.63
9. A. Eide, “Cultural Rights as Individual Human Rights”, in idem, p.229.
10. Exceptions are S. P. Marks, “UNESCO and Human Rights: The Implementation of Rights Relating to Education, Science, Culture and Communication” (1977) 13 Texas Int.LJ. 35,50–51
11. “Education, Science, Culture and Information”, in O. Schachter and C. C. Joyner (Eds), United Nations Legal Order, Vol.2 (1995), p.577 at pp.598–603
12. Kartashkin, “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, in K. Vasak and P. Alston (Eds), The International Dimensions of Human Rights, Vol. 1 (1982), p.111 at pp.127–130. UNESCO's interpretative role in respect of the right to take part in cultural life is long-standing. The first draft of Art.15 was in fact presented to the Commission on Human Rights by the Organisation's Director-General: see A/C3/SR.797, para.13.
13. See also E/CN.4/684 and E/CN.4/655/Add.4. In 1968 UNESCO's Secretariat convened a conference of experts to discuss the issue of cultural rights: see UNESCO, Studies and Documents on Cultural Policies 3: Cultural Rights as Human Rights (1970). Most relevantly, the UNESCO General Conference, recalling Art.l5's precursor in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1976 the Recommendation on Participation by the People at Large in Cultural Life and their Contribution to it.
14. UNESCO Doc. 19 C/Resolutions, Annex I. p.29 (“Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life”). This standard-setting instrument has been suggested as a basis on which States parties to the ICESCR might frame the periodic reports they must make to the Committee on Art.15: see General Discussion on the Right to Take Part in Cultural Life as recognised in Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic.
15. Social and Cultural Rights. E/1993/22, chap.VII (“General Discussion”), para.208.
16. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (“The Committee”) was created by the Economic and Social Council in May 1986. See ECOSOC Res. 1985/17.1985 UN ESCOR Supp. (No.1). p.15. E/1985/85 (1985).
17. For an examination of the Committee's background, mandate and workings see P. Alston. “The Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights”, in P. Alston (Ed.), The United Nations and Human Rights. A Critical Appraisal (1992), p.473
18. M. C. R. Craven, The International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A Perspective on its Development (1995), chap.2.
19. ICESCR. Art2(l). The Committee elaborated on the nature of States parties' obligations under Art.2(l) in General Comment No.3 (1990). E/1991/23. Annex III. especially in this regard at paras. 1,2 and 9.
20. When Art.2(l) operates via provisions such as Art.15 which “recognise” certain rights, “the relevant obligations can best be understood as hybrids between obligations of result and obligations of conduct”: P. Alston and G. Quinn, “The Nature and Scope of States Parties' Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” (1987) 9 Human Rights Q. 156,185.
21. See also Craven, Human Rights, at pp.106–136.
22. Revised Guidelines regarding the Form and Contents of Reports to be submitted by States Parties under Articles 16 and 17 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/l991/23, p.88 at p.108 (“Revised Guidelines”), para.1(a).
23. See ICESCR, Art.2(1); Revised Guidelines, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, at para.1, introductory sub-para.
24. General Comment No.3, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, at paras.3,4,6. See also E/l992/23, paras.90. 129, 283.
25. See E/1988/14, para. 247; E/1989/22, para.190; E/1991/23, paras. 127,192; E/l 992/23. paras.92.134, 157, 194, 317; E/l994/23, para.123; E/1995/22, para.224: E/1997/22, paras.126, 214; E/C12/1996/SR.18, paras. 37–39; E/C.12/1997/SR.21, paras.61–62; E/C12/1/Add.l4, 16/5/97, para.4; E/C.12/1/Add.l7.12/12/97, para.ll. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, at preamble, 9th recital.
26. See International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
27. Idem, para. 1(b).
28. See the prefatory statement made to the Third Committee of the General Assembly by the Czech delegate when opening discussion of the draft provision: A/C.3/SR.795, para.6. Art.15 had its earliest origins in Art 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose framers saw the guarantee as involving a duty on the part of States to bring “masterpieces” and “treasures of culture” “within reach of the masses”: UNGA OR, Third Session (1948), Pt.I, VoL 3, p.623. (Note that cinema occupies a niche within Art.15 as both high and popular culture, depending on whether one emphasises its art-house manifestation as “film” or its Hollywood embodiment as “movies”.)
29. General Discussion, Third Session, at para.217.
30. ICESCR, Art2(l). As with other so-called “second generation” rights, the right to take part in cultural life is not contingent upon a State having attained a certain level of prosperity. See General Comment No J, Third Session, at paras. 10–12.
31. While a State is entitled to a wide measure of discretion when it comes to deciding the amounts it can afford to set aside for the realisation of the rights enumerated in the ICESCR, its “subjective determination as to what constitutes an adequate resource allocation is [not] entitled to complete deference”: Alston and Quinn, Third Session, at pp.177–181 (quote at p.178).
32. See also Craven, Third Session, at pp.136–144. (In this light, the acute economic difficulties currently experienced by the former socialist States as they attempt the transition to a market economy, while viewed sympathetically by the Committee, do not relieve them of their obligations under Ait.15.
33. See General Discussion, Third Session, at para.218; E/1993/22, para.130; E/1994/23, para.138; E/1995/22, para.90, E/1996/22, para.258; E/1997/22, paras.76–277; E/C.12/1/ Add.13,20/5/97, para. 13. The same applies as regards the impact of international sanctions on Iraq: E/C.12/1/Add.l7. 12/12/97, para.9
34. Moreover, principles 23 and 24 of the Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the ICESCR make it clear that the obligation of progressive realisation of the rights enshrined in the Covenant does not necessarily involve increased spending. Rather, it simply requires “effective use of resources available”, including “societal resources”: E/CN.4/1987/17, Annex, reproduced at (1987) 9 Human Rights Q. 122,126. At the other end of the scale, more affluent countries are clearly expected to spend sums on cultural life commensurate with their comparative wealth.
35. See Revised Guidelines, Human Rights, at para.1(b); E/1992/23, paras.284, 310, 312; E/1993/22, para.147; E/C.12/1994/SR.6, para.23; E/C.12/1996/SR.4, para.3l.
36. See Revised Guidelines, idem, para.1(a); E/1992/23, paras.151,247,310.
37. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.10.
38. This includes support for amateur activities: idem, paras.7(a) and 10(h).
39. General Discussion,idem, at para.205.
40. See also Limburg Principles, idem, at principle 11.
41. This may include artists as well as audiences: Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, para. 10(f).
42. See General Discussion, idem, para.220.
43. E/l988/14, para.58. See also Revised Guidelines, idem, at para.1, concluding sub-para. (special mention of right of “disadvantaged and particularly vulnerable groups” to take part in cultural life); E/l990/23, para.166; E/1992/23, paras.151,248,284; E/C.12/1996/SR.4, para.40.
44. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at preamble, 8th recital, and para.6(h). Note that the Committee considers the levying of different charges for nationals and non-nationals to be discriminatory: E/1992/23, para.284.
45. This includes different prices for EU nationals and non-EU nationals: idem. In addition, the UNESCO Secretariat, in a working paper for its 1968 conference of “cultural experts”, pointed out that the cost of culture can refer to more than admission prices.
46. Dress regulations and the opening hours of galleries and museums can constitute unwitting forms of discrimination: UNESCO, idem, at p.12.
47. See also the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, para.4(r), which calls on States to “lay down conditions governing… the operational organization of cultural institutions which will enable the greatest possible number of people to gain access to culture and participate in cultural life”.
48. For more detail, see UNESCO's clearly influential Recommendation concerning the Most Effective Means of Rendering Museums Accessible to Everyone, adopted in 1960 and reproduced at UNESCO, Conventions and Recommendations of Unesco Concerning the Protection of the Cultural Heritage (1985), pp.117 etseq. and in particular Part III (“Material arrangements in and admission to museums”).
49. See Draft List of Questions for inclusion in the Revised General Guidelines, E/1992/23, Appendix I, para.12
50. General Discussion, General Guidelines, at para-219; E/1988/14, para38; E/1992/23, paras.2l4, 249; E/1993/22, paras.73, 147; E/C.12/1994/SR.6, para.24; E/C.12/1996/SR.4, para.40.
51. See also the Committee's General Comment No.6 (1995), E/1996/22, Annex IV, para.39.
52. See Revised Guidelines, Annex, at para.1(h); E/1992/23, paras.249, 310, E/C.12/ 1994/SR.6, para.23; E/C.12/1997/SR.21, para.63.
53. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, Annex, at preamble, 21st recital, and para.10(d).
54. General Comment No.5 (1994), E/1995/22, Annex IV, para.37.
55. In general, the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, Annex, at para.4(h), calls on States to “ensure that the handicapped are integrated into cultural life and have opportunities of contributing to it”.
56. See also idem, para.6(h); E/l997/22, paras.254,259.
57. General Comment No.5, idem, para 36.
58. General Comment No.6, idem, at para.40.
59. See Revised Guidelines, idem, at para.1(f)
60. General Discussion, idem, at pant 213.
61. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.4(q) (i).
62. L. V. Prott and P. J. O'Keefe, Law and the Cultural Heritage, Vol.1: Discovery and Excavation (1984), pp.28–29, identify Art 15, along with several other human rights provisions, as forming “the nucleus of a rudimentary system” of human rights capable of protecting the cultural heritage.
63. See E/l995/22, para.136 (Iraq's destruction of the cultural heritage of religious communities and minorities).
64. Revised Guidelines, Iraq's destruction of the cultural heritage of religious communities and minorities, at para. 1(f). Highlighting the dual nature of a State's duty under Artl5 to safeguard the cultural heritage, the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Cambodia writes: “Angkor and Angkorian artefacts must be preserved and protected for all Cambodians, and the world”: E/CN.4/1994/73, para. 120 (emphasis added).
65. See similarly UNESCO's Recommendation concerning the Protection, at National Level, of the Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted in 1972 and reproduced in UNESCO, Iraq's destruction of the cultural heritage of religious communities and minorities, at pp.165 etseq, Art.4.
66. A useful definition of the term “cultural heritage” as used in the Revised Guidelines can be found in Art 1 of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972, 1037 U.N.T.S. 151
67. reproduced in UNESCO, idem, pp.77 etseq.
68. The Convention–UNESCO's flagship legal instrument in the field of the cultural heritage–is clearly influential in the application of this particular aspect of Art 15, as is the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970,823 U.N.T.S. 231
69. reproduced idem, pp.59 a set
70. the Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological Excavations, adopted in 1956 and reproduced idem, pp.103 etseq.
71. See E/1992/23, para.313. UNESCO's influence is once more apparent see Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological Excavations, Part III (“Regulations governing excavations and international collaboration”).
72. The Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological Excavations, at para-2(a), states that access to culture includes “the concrete opportunities available to everyone … for enjoying … cultural property”. It is unclear precisely what such opportunities would entail.
73. Idem, para J 315.
74. For another incident of the rights of minorities to their cultural heritage, see Prott and O'Keefe, Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological Excavations, at p.29
75. L. Prott, “Cultural Rights as Peoples' Rights”, in J. Crawford (Ed.), The Rights of Peoples (1988), p.101.
76. See similarly Revised Guidelines, The Rights of Peoples, at paras.1(i), 4.
77. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, The Rights of Peoples, at para.12.
78. See similarly Revised Guidelines, idem, para.5
79. General Discussion, idem, at para.205.
80. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, preamble, 17th recital and para.2(a), (b).
81. There is considerable overlap in this regard between Art.15 and Artl9(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966,999 U.N.T.S. 171 (“the ICCPR”)
82. reproduced in Brownlie, U.N.T.S., at p.276, which guarantees freedom of expression, including the “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media”.
83. Revised Guidelines, idem, para.1(g); E/l990/23. para.128; E/1992/23, paras.151,310; E/1993/22, paras.72,147; E/1994/23, para.128.
84. Revised Guidelines, idem.
85. See E/1992/23, para.214. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.4(o).
86. See also Art.l9(l) of the almost-unrversally ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UN Doc.A/RES/44/25, repr. in M. D. Evans, Blackstone's International Law Documents (3rd edn, 1996), pp.408 et seq.), which obliges States parties to take all appropriate measures “to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse,… maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse”.
87. States parties' obligations under ICESCR, Art.15, may have to be interpreted in the light of their obligations under Art.l9(l) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in accordance with Art.31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1155 U.N.T.S. 331
88. repr. in idem, p.171).
89. For further evidence of international concern over child pornography, see the most recent reports of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/1998/101 and Add. 1 & 2) and to the General Assembly (A/52/482, Annex), as well as those two bodies' most recent respective statements on the matter (E/CN.4/RES/1998/76, Pt.III and A/RES/52/107, Pt.III).
90. See also proposals for a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child dealing specifically with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (E/CN.4/1998/103).
91. See UNGA OR, Third Session (1948), Pt.1, Vol.3, p.623 (USSR), p.627 (Venezuela), p.628 (Saudi Arabia).
92. A/C3/SR.796, para.ll (PaKistan). See similarly idem, para.27 (Philippines); A/C.3/ SR.797, para.18 (Greece).
93. Working paper prepared by the UNESCO Secretariat, in UNESCO, idem, at p. 10.
94. idem.
95. Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at preamble, 5th recital, subpara. (c).
96. Idem, para3(a).
97. Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at preamble, 6th recital (emphasis added).
98. A/C3/SR.796, para.18 (India). See similarly idem, para.19.
99. Revised Guidelines, idem, at para.1, introductory subpara. See similarly E/1991/23, para.79; E/1992/23, para.310.
100. See Revised Guidelines, idem, para.l(b); E/1992/23, para.310.
101. See Revised Guidelines, idem; E/1992/23, paras.151,310; E/1993/22, para.147; E/C12/ 1996/SR.4, para 31.
102. See Revised Guidelines, idem, para.l(e); E/1991/23, para.79.
103. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at preamble, 22nd recital.
104. See E/C12/1996/SR.4, para.30. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.14(h).
105. See E/C.12/1996/SR.4, para.43. Again, see also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem.
106. See idem; E/1992/23, para.248.
107. General Comment No.5, idem, at para 37.
108. Similarly, the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.14(h), speaks of “visual languages accessible to all audiences”.
109. General Comment No.5, idem, at para.36.
110. The Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.l4(b), speaks of “sports events” as “opportunities for cultural contact and exchange”.
111. General Comment No.5, idem, at paras.36,38.
112. The Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para. 14(b), also speaks of tourism.
113. E/1993/22, para.73. See similarly Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, para.4(r).
114. The Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, suggests that States “lay down conditions governing working and leisure hours… which will enable the greatest possible number of people … [to] participate in cultural life”. See similarly ICESCR, Art.7(d).
115. In this regard, the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, para.11, calls on States to “make sure that the criterion of profit-making does not exert a decisive influence on cultural activities”.
116. Recall that this was considered an incident of Art.15 at General Discussion, idem, at para.205.
117. This is acknowledged and sought to be countered in the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem. In terms of the selection procedure for State support, para. 10(g) suggests that States “ensure the multiplicity of bodies called upon to assess works of art and the regular renewal of their membership … so as to safeguard the freedom of creative artists”.
118. I. Szabo, Cultural Rights (1974), pp.48–49.
119. But cf. N. Chomsky, Keeping the Rabble in Line (1994), pp.254–255, 258–260, who contends that contemporary popular culture in fact serves the State, by distracting people's attention away from social realities and hence from mobilising opposition to injustice.
120. This broad (or in anthropological parlance, “deep”) conception of culture owes much to the work of American social anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict, Melville J. Hersko-vits and Clifford Geertz. See R. Benedict, Patterns of Culture (1952)
121. M. J. Herskovits, Cultural Dynamics (1964)
122. C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (1973).
123. UNESCO, The Interpretation of Cultures, at p.116.
124. Paraphrasing Voltaire, the experts declared, The Interpretation of Cultures: “Culture is like prose–people who speak it do not normally classify it as such or even think about it in any kind of way.”
125. General Discussion, The Interpretation of Cultures, at paras.204,209, 210.
126. Idem, para 213.
127. See similarly Prott, Idem, at pp.94–95
128. Our Creative Diversity. Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development (2nd rev. edn, 1996), Introduction. The Commission, headed by former Secretary-General Pérez de Cuoéllar, was an independent body jointly established by UNESCO (whose Secretariat worked on the report) and the UN. UNESCO has set up a Steering Committee, assisted by the Organisation's Secretariat, to plan and co-ordinate the follow-up to the Report.
129. Revised Guidelines, Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development, at paras. 1(c), 1(d) and concluding subpara.
130. Prott, Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development, at p.97.
131. But cf. the discussion paper prepared by Samba Cor Konaté sometime Committee member, and presented at the Committee's day of general discussion on Art. l5, which suggested that the “right to have access to culture and the need for equal opportunities and non-discrimination… might be regarded as a group right”: General Discussion, Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development, at para 205.
132. See also UNESCO's Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, adopted in 1966, UNESCO Doc. 14 C/Resolutions, p.86 (“Principles of International Cultural Co-operation”), Art.1(2).
133. In a similar vein, see the non-governmental Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, adopted in 1976 (“the Algiers Declaration”, repr. in Crawford, UNESCO Doc. 14 C/Resolutions, at pp.187 et seq.), Arts.2, 13, 14, 15
134. J. Crawford, The Rights of Peoples: ‘Peoples’ or ‘Governments’?”, in idem, p.57.
135. This is the approach explicitly taken by the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem: see paras.2(b), 2(c), 3.(a).
136. See E/l997/22, Annex IV. Despite the misgivings expressed by some that Art.15 is too vague to be the subject of a communications procedure, the Committee has decided that there is insufficient reason “to single it out for exclusion while retaining other formulations of equivalent generality”: idem, para.24.
137. Idem,paras.l9–21.
138. Revised Guidelines, Idem, at para.1, concluding subpara.
139. See idem, para.l(d)
140. General Discussion, Idem, at para.206. The Committee's thinking on this subject meshes with the approach taken by the General Assembly in its Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities, A/RES/47/135, adopted in 1992, and that taken by the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in its Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/45, adopted in 1994.
141. For a discussion of cultural integrity as an aspect of ICCPR, Art.27 (the minority rights provision) see S. J. Anaya, Indigenous Peoples in International Law (1996), pp.98–104.
142. Recall, however, that Art.27 of the ICCPR is cast explicitly as an individual right (Lovelace v. Canada, UN Doc.A/36/40, p.166
143. Kitok v. Sweden, UN Doc.A/43/40, p.221), albeit exercised in a group context
144. Lubicon Lake Band v. Canada, UN Doc A/45/40, p.1
145. Lānsman v. Finland, UN Doc.CCPR/52/D/Sl 1/1992. See generally the Human Rights Committee's General Comment No.23(50) (Art27), UN Doc.CCPR/C/21/Rev.l/Add. 5, 1994.
146. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, UN Doc.CCPR/52/D/Sl 1/1992, at para.4(g).
147. See E/1988/14, para.298; E/l990/23, para.231; E/1991/23, paras.154,190; E/1992/23, paras.49,319; E/G12/1996/SR.12,para.60. See similarly Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, UN Doc.CCPR/52/D/Sl 1/1992, at para.4(f) (which posits minority cultures as forming “part of the common heritage of mankind”).
148. Revised Guidelines, UN Doc.CCPR/52/D/Sl 1/1992, at para.l(c). See also E/1992/23, para.310.
149. General Discussion, UN Doc.CCPR/52/D/Sl 1/1992, at para.220.
150. See similarly Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, UN Doc.CCPR/52/D/Sl 1/1992, at preamble, 19th and esp. 23rd recitals, where it is stated that the right to take part in cultural life “implies taking measures against the harmful effect of ‘commercial mass culture’, which threatens national cultures”.
151. See also idem, para.14(h).
152. Sec E/1989/22, para.307. At the same time, the Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.l4(b), speaks of tourism as an “opportunit[y] for cultural contact and exchange”.
153. General Comment No.5, idem, at para.38 (“measures must be taken to dispel prejudices or superstitious beliefs against persons with disabilities, for example those that view epilepsy as a form of spirit possession or a child with disabilities as a form of punishment visited upon the family”).
154. Revised Guidelines, idem, at para.2(a).
155. See also General Discussion, idem, at para.213.
156. Art l5(4) speaks of “the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in… cultural fields”. See also the UNESCO Constitution, Art.I(2)(a) and (c), reproduced at (1946) 23 B.Y.I.L. 424
157. Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, B.Y.I.L., generally
158. Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, B.Y.I.L., at preamble, 20th recital and para.18.
159. See Revised Guidelines, B.Y.I.L., at paras.6, 9. See also E/1991/23, para.154; E/1992/23, paras.90,129,153,189; E/1993/22, paras.72,97.
160. See B.Y.I.L. The Committee clearly encourages not just the eradication of specific traditional practices which breach human rights guarantees but also fundamental societal shifts in favour of creating a “human rights culture”, as recommended to Guatemala: E/1997/22, para. 146. See the Committee's similar concern in respect of Algeria; E/l996/22, para. 293.
161. The Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, B.Y.I.L., cites as an obstacle to the realisation of such participation “a resistance to change… tak[ing] the form of a reaction by closed communities”: preamble, 13th recital.
162. Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, B.Y.I.L., at Art.6.
163. See, in this light, idem. Arts. 1(1) and 6, which speak of respecting and preserving each culture's dignity and distinctive character.
164. See similarly Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at paras.2(c), 3(d)(vii), 4(d)
165. the endorsement of the Committee's view by one representative of UNESCO: General Discussion, idem, at para 209.
166. Revised Guidelines, idem, at para.1(i), reproducing the wording of ICESCR, Art.l5(2).
167. See similariy Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, idem, Arts.4(4) and 7(1).
168. The Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, para.4(b), calls on States to “provide effective safeguards for free access to… world cultures”.
169. Revised Guidelines, idem, at para.1(a).
170. See also para.l(i), mirroring ICESCR, Art.l5(2). Similarly, Art.l(2) of the Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, idem, states: “Every people has the right and duty to develop its culture.”
171. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at para.4(d).
172. Benedict, idem, at p.10.
173. In the words of the great Fernand Braudel, “The history of civilisations, in fact, is the history of continual mutual borrowings over many centuries, despite which each civilisation has kept its own original character”: A History of Civilisations (trans. R. Mayne) (1993), p.8.
174. For an elegant and perceptive analysis of the tension between cultural preservation and cultural dynamism, gee J. Waldron, “Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative”, in W. Kymlicka (Ed.), The Rights of Minority Cultures (1995), esp. pp.108–110.
175. Similarly, useful elaborations of the distinction between the stability of a culture and its character at a particular moment can be found in W. Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community and Culture (1989), pp.166–170
176. Stavenhagen, Liberalism, Community and Culture, at p.66. The conundrum outlined above was in fact foreshadowed by the UNESCO delegate to the drafting of Art.15: A/C3/SR797, para.14.
177. See also “Towards a Definition of Culture–Discussion”, in UNESCO, Liberalism, Community and Culture, at p.18.
178. E/l 991/23, para.80. See also Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, Liberalism, Community and Culture, at para.4(o).
179. Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, para.18(j).
180. Prott, idem, at p.95.
181. See also Working Paper prepared by the UNESCO Secretariat, in UNESCO idem, at p.11.
182. Idem, p.103.
183. Recommendation on Participation in Cultural Life, idem, at preamble, 10th and 14th recitals.