World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, sometimes abbreviated World Day for Cultural Diversity, is a United Nations sanctioned observance day for the promotion of diversity and intercultural dialogue. Begun in 2002, it is celebrated on 21 May. It was established by UNESCO in response to the 2001 Taliban terrorist attack that destroyed the Bamyan Buddha statue in Afghanistan.

World Day for Cultural Diversity
Official name	World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
Observed by	All UN member states
Type	United Nations International Declaration
Celebrations	Multiple events worldwide
Date	21 May
Next time	21 May 2025 (2025-05-21)
Frequency	Annual
First time	2002; 23 years ago (2002)
Related to	Cultural diversity

The 2002 Universal Declaration emphasized the role of culture in achieving prosperity, sustainable development, and fostering global peaceful coexistence.

Background and origin

The Millennium Development Goals issued by the United Nations in 2000 did not mention culture as an aspect or facilitator of development. Since then, some UN agencies, especially the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), have worked to encourage cultural diversity as an integral part of development. UNESCO's Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in November 2001 called for measures to protect the world's cultural diversity from the risk of globalisation. This document described cultural diversity as the "common heritage of humanity" and set out actions that member states could take to promote it. It was the first international instrument enshrining the value of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue and led to further international efforts to promote diversity as a shared goal. One such effort was UN Resolution A/RES/57/249, proclaimed unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2002, naming 21 May as the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

Through the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and other activities, UNESCO has promoted a new interpretation of culture. While cultural diversity was previously understood in terms of preserving established cultural material, the latest interpretation emphasises an ongoing process of interaction and dialogue. On the 2009 World Day for Cultural Diversity, UNESCO's Director-General Kōichirō Matsuura specified that the organisation "believes that cultures are not monolithic but interdependent, resulting from mutual exchanges and borrowings".

Commemoration

The day is celebrated by events bringing together specialists from many areas of culture and representatives of government and non-government agencies. Since 2011, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) has run the "Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion" campaign, in partnership with UNESCO and other public and private organisations. This asks people to spend World Day for Cultural Diversity learning about different cultures or sharing their own culture with others.

On 21 May 2018, amidst other celebrations of the day in Germany, the German Commission for UNESCO and the Bertelsmann Foundation used the day to promote a report arguing that a diverse cultural sector promotes harmonious living in a diverse society. It recommended that cultural institutions and public bodies extend their support for art from diverse cultures and remove barriers to participation for immigrant artists and performers.

The observance day is regularly celebrated in Botswana with national and tribal ceremonies and artistic events. This has helped to raise awareness of the Batlokwa minority ethnic culture and enabled observers to document and preserve this culture by recording events. The organisation Pink Armenia commemorated the day in 2012 with a diversity parade showing posters of Armenia's ethnic minorities. In 2022 events took place in Cameroon's national museum and at Mankono in the Ivory Coast. In 2023, the city of Glasgow in Scotland hosted an event curated by Nigerian author Funmi Obisesan to celebrate the variety of diasporas in Scotland. The British House of Lords held an event celebrating Indian languages. Cyprus celebrated the day with a festival held in Nicosia. In Zimbabwe, celebrations of the day were extended to a Culture Week, and then in 2022 to a Culture Month, including celebrations of present and historical culture at local and national levels.

UNESCO hosted an international conference on public art in 2011 leading up to the observance day, while celebrations also took place at the UNESCO regional office in Cuba. To commemorate the day in 2022, UNESCO headquarters hosted an event bringing together representatives of 38 signatories of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions with a keynote speech by Sir David Khalili, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Khalili's charity, the Khalili Foundation, runs, in partnership with UNESCO, a World Festival of Cultural Diversity culminating in the World Day for Cultural Diversity.

References

1. "World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development". United Nations. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
2. Pioneer, The. "Celebrating the power of cultural diversity". The Pioneer. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
3. Pathak, Dev (2 October 2014). "Cultural Imagination of Human Development? Framing Questions in a Preliminary Quest". International Critical Thought. 4 (4): 433–447. doi:10.1080/21598282.2014.954252. ISSN 2159-8282. S2CID 145088828.
4. Choi, Ye jin; Lee, Won Seok; Moon, Joonho; Kim, Kyoung-Bae (3 May 2021). "The value of preserving endangered folk games using the contingent valuation method". Current Issues in Tourism. 24 (9): 1319–1330. doi:10.1080/13683500.2020.1800602. ISSN 1368-3500. S2CID 225413916.
5. Passer, Juliette (Autumn 2020). "Did You Know That There Is the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity? And Why You Should Care?". International In-House Counsel Journal. 13 (53): 6811–6812.
6. Matsuura, Koïchiro (2006). "L'enjeu culturel au cœur des relations internationales". Politique étrangère (in French). Hiver (4): 1045–1057. doi:10.3917/pe.064.1045. ISSN 0032-342X.
7. "Resolution adopted by the General Assembly: 57/249. Culture and development" (PDF). United Nations. 20 February 2003. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
8. Peng, Shin-yi (2008). "International Trade in Cultural Products: UNESCO's Commitment to Promoting Cultural Diversity and Its Relations with the WTO". International Trade and Business Law Review. Vol. 11. Routledge. p. 223. ISBN 9780415442459.
9. Garner, Ben (2011). "Globalisation, Cultural Diversity and the Search for a New Global Ethics". In Garner, Ben; Pavlenko, Sonia; Shaheen, Salma; Wolanski, Alison (eds.). Cultural and Ethical Turns: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Culture, Politics and Ethics (PDF). Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press. pp. 26–27. OCLC 1289758860.
10. Adubra, Edem (2009). "Keynote address". International Journal of African Renaissance Studies – Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. 4 (1): 96–101. doi:10.1080/18186870903102048. ISSN 1818-6874. S2CID 214653220.
11. Rosca, Simion (2020). "European Cultural Policy – Targets and Objectives" (PDF). Relații Internaționale Plus (2). Academia de Administrare Publică: 125.
12. Goff, Patricia M (September 2015). "Public diplomacy at the global level: The Alliance of Civilizations as a community of practice". Cooperation and Conflict. 50 (3): 412. doi:10.1177/0010836715574915. ISSN 0010-8367. S2CID 143306286.
13. "Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion". United Nations. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
14. "UNESCO-Welttag der kulturellen Vielfalt 2018 | Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission". www.unesco.de (in German). 18 May 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
15. "How culture promotes understanding". Deutsche Welle. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
16. Nhlekisana, Rosaleen O. B. (2020). "Batlokwa Culture Day: A Celebration of Cultural Identity and Pride". Marang: Journal of Language and Literature. 32: 55.
17. "«Փինք Հայաստանը» Հայաստանում գեյ–շքերթ կազմակերպելու նպատակ չունի". 1in.am (in Armenian). 21 May 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
18. Nkodo, Monica (23 May 2022). "Diversité culturelle: l'unité dans la différence". Cameroon Tribune. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
19. Koffi, Kouassi Patrice (12 November 2022). "Les populations de Mankono invitées à participer activement à la Journée mondiale de la diversité culturelle". Agence Ivoirienne de Presse de Côte d'Ivoire (in French). Retrieved 14 April 2023.
20. Gbenga-Ogundare, Yejide (31 May 2023). "Nigerian woman gets accolade for curating World Cultural Diversity Day celebration in Glasgow". Tribune Online. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
21. Ajum, Bengia (30 May 2023). "Arunachal talking point at London's World Day for Cultural Diversity". The Arunachal Times. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
22. Philippou, Eleni (17 May 2023). "Celebrating World Cultural Diversity Day 2023". Cyprus Mail. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
23. Antonio, Winstone (27 April 2022). "Culture Week turned into Culture Month". NewsDay. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
24. Shumba, Ano (26 April 2022). "Zim: 2022 Culture Month dates announced". Music In Africa. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
25. "21 May: World Day for Cultural Diversity, for Dialogue and Development". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021.
26. "Report on the implementation of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity and its fundraising strategy". unesdoc.unesco.org. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
27. "World Festival of Cultural Diversity". Khalili Foundation. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
28. Murphy, Adrian (17 February 2023). "Europeana taking part in the Khalili Foundation World Festival of Cultural Diversity". Europeana Pro. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

External links

• Official page on United Nations site