[WSIS CS-Plenary] Governments, NGOs to discuss first draft of UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity

[Sasha Costanza-Chock]

Hello all,

I would like to suggest that members of the WSIS Civil Society plenary 
should familiarize ourselves with the process that is unfolding around 
the UNESCO convention on cultural diversity, with an eye towards 
developing a consensus statement on the convention.

This is important because there is overlap between the concerns of WSIS 
participants and the proposed UNESCO convention, and because, while WSIS 
remains largely a site for debate with possible 'spin-off' policy 
outcomes, the UNESCO convention is proposed as a binding treaty, 
potentially with enforcement mechanisms.

To start with, check out this update from Free Press Global - original 
article includes links:

http://www.freepress.net/global/update.php?id=59


Governments, NGOs to discuss first draft of UNESCO Convention on
Cultural Diversity

September 9, 2004
Government reps from around the world will be meeting September 20-25 at
UNESCO headquarters in Paris to discuss the first draft of the proposed
Convention on Cultural Diversity (CCD). The CCD (formally known as the
International Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural
Contents and Artistic Expressions) would be an international legal
agreement to implement the principle that culture cannot be reduced to a
commodity. Concretely, it would potentially allow each country to
exclude its cultural policies, including 'audiovisual services' -
otherwise known as media - from 'free trade' deals like the WTO.

Progressive NGO networks like the International Network on Cultural
Diversity and the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information
Society are calling for broad civil society support for the CCD, but
warn that the Convention must not be subordinated to the WTO and must be
written to support cultural and media diversity inside countries, not
only between them. Otherwise, the Convention, even if it successfully
fends off an attack from the trade ministers, will only serve the
interests of national media companies against the biggest
transnationals, rather than true, bottom-up media diversity.


More information:


UNESCO portal on the CCD:
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=11281&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

International Network on Cultural Diversity: www.incd.net

CRIS campaign: www.crisinfo.org

Media Trade Monitor: www.mediatrademonitor.org