Historical Background of the 2005 Convention
Mandate
In October 2003, the Member States requested the Organization to pursue its normative action in the defence of human creativity.
On the basis of the recommendation of the Executive Board, the General Conference of UNESCO requested the Director-General to submit at the October 2005 session a Preliminary Report accompanied by a Preliminary Draft of a Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions (Resolution 32C/34).
Process
Between December 2003 and July 2005, the Director-General convened three meetings of independent experts and three intergovernmental meetings of experts.
The Director-General submitted to the General Conference a report on the successive stages that have been completed and on the debates and recommendations of the meeting of governmental experts, accompanied by a preliminary draft convention (Document 33C/23).
The instrument, which was renamed the "Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions" following the recommendation of the intergovernmental meeting of experts, was adopted by the General Conference at its 33rd session on 20 October 2005.
- Feasibility study of a new legal instrument [pdf] (2003)
- Meetings of independent experts (December 2003 – May 2004)
- First Preliminary Draft Convention [pdf] (July 2004)
- Intergovernmental meetings of experts (September 2004 – June 2005)
- Documents relevant to the elaboration of the preliminary draft convention
More information:
- List of reference documents
- Works on the Convention undertaken by other bodies
- What were the stages that led to the adoption of the Convention?
