Towards a Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions: UNESCO Culture Sector

UNESCO website devoted to the proposed convention

The General Conference of UNESCO directed the preparation of a Preliminary Draft of a Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions to be submitted for its next session in October 2005. The elaboration of this new legal instrument, which is to be consistent with the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001), comprises two stages: firstly, meetings of independent experts for preliminary deliberations and; secondly, a series of intergovernmental meetings of experts to finalize the preliminary draft of a convention. To this end, between December 2003 and May 2004, the Director-General convened three meetings of independent experts to gather suggestions for the preparation of a first preliminary draft of a convention. In March 2005, the Director-General submitted to the Member States a Preliminary Report summarizing the various milestones since the beginning of the process in 2003. Two preliminary drafts of the convention are contained in the appendices of the report.