Idea

Mondiacult

UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development: MONDIACULT 2022 (Mexico City, September 28-30, 2022) – excerpts from the final declaration, which is one of the key documents on which cooperation within the UNESCO Creative Cities Network is based today.

Excerpts from the final declaration

We call for strengthening the role of, and adapting our cultural policies to the challenges of the present day through the effective implementation of the relevant UNESCO conventions and recommendations, in particular by engaging more diverse stakeholders – from national and local participants to cultural institutions, civil society institutions, networks of professionals and experts, and concerned communities – in more systematic participatory activities in order to trigger their transformative potential through the exchange of good practices.

We reiterate our call for the protection of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, as well as free expression, especially in times of crisis that include extreme climatic events and natural hazards, and condemn actions that target culture in the context of armed conflict, as well as the use of cultural infrastructure and its surroundings for military purposes, and support efforts to implement norms and standards of international law.

We emphasize the importance of introducing the topic of cultural heritage and creativity into international discussions on climate change because of their multifaceted impact on the protection of all forms of cultural heritage and the recognition of the role of culture in climate action, particularly through traditional and indigenous belief systems.

We are fully determined to support the sustainable development of the cultural and creative sector in support of member countries’ creative sector economies through the effective implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention and the 1980 recommendations; including by guaranteeing the social and economic rights of artists and cultural workers, supporting their mobility, and better regulation of digital platforms and their use in participatory dialogues, and we call on UNESCO to support member countries in taking advantage of the digital transformation in the cultural sector.

We, the Ministers of Culture gathered in Mexico City at this critical moment for the entire world, pledge to strengthen multilateralism that recognizes culture as a global common good possessing an intrinsic value capable of activating and continuously stimulating sustainable development, and being aware of our full responsibility, we ask UNESCO to take action leading to the common implementation of the following strategic directions based on the global and specialized mandate that the organization has in the field of culture, as well as on its following legal instruments and programs:

We call on the UN Secretary-General to firmly lead the way in empowering culture as a common good and to include it as an end in itself in the development agenda reaching beyond the border year of 2030, and in order to achieve this goal, we ask the UNESCO Director-General to initiate a broad consultation – involving member states, civil society, academia and the private sector – on the multifaceted impact of culture as a common good on our societies, as well as to support the idea of including culture as the theme of the UN Summit on the Future planned for 2024. Future planned for 2024, reiterating UNESCO’s founding mandate stating that the organization is to “create peace in the minds of men and women” through strengthening social justice and guaranteeing human dignity.