Webinar - Art-Lab for Human Rights and Dialogue Special Edition

UNESCO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) organize an “Art-Lab for Human Rights and Dialogue” special edition webinar in response to COVID-19 and beyond…. It will be held on 22 May 2020 (4 p.m. -5 p.m., UTC+2), on the occasion of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

This webinar is part of the UNESCO series "Inclusion in the time of COVID-19" which aims to exchange experiences and expertise on the measures to address the COVID-19 crisis at the global and local levels. The focus will be on the social dimensions of “leaving no one behind” and on actions taken to fight against the growing incidents of racism and discrimination.

Five “artivists”, artists/activists, will share with the audience how they adapted, in light of Covid-19, their strategies to reach out to the most vulnerable, who are also, most often, the most invisible. Moreover, they will explain how the pandemic has uncovered human and social realities that we can no longer afford to avoid in the post Covid-19 era.

Art-Lab places human rights and dignity at the centre of sustainable development where cultural diversity and dialogue play a fundamental role. In particular, it strives to mainstream artistic and cultural programmes to reposition the central issue of human rights for policy-actors and to support vulnerable communities in the advancement of their human rights and dignity, by providing them with the necessary resistance resources through the Arts.

Therefore, the challenging questions will be addressed during this special edition are:

How can artistic practices be pursued as a means of defending human dignity and human rights when containment is essential to curb the exponential growth of COVID-19? What can art do when intercultural dialogue is threatened? What are the deeper ethical principles at stake in conducting artistic interventions with the most vulnerable populations? What kind of intercultural competencies are mobilized? Are they really conducive to human rights or maintaining the status quo of the most vulnerable? How can the arts be properly mainstreamed in humanitarian and development programmes to really make a change? What kind of impact are we seeing?

The webinar aims to shed light on the important role of art and culture as a tool for Dialogue and Development within a context where economic, social and cultural gaps are growing in parallel with the pandemic - echoing #ArtConnects and #ResiliArt, UNESCO’s recent social media campaign shedding light on the resilience of artists during the pandemic.

The Art-Lab Seminar is organized as part of UNESCO’s webinars focusing on the social dimensions of the United Nations objective of “Leaving no one behind” and the measures which have been taken to combat racism and discrimination. The webinar is aimed at stakeholders at national / local level, international and regional organizations, academics, students, NGOs and policy makers.

Held every year on 21 May, the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development celebrates not only the richness of the world’s cultures, but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development. The United Nations General Assembly first declared this World Day in 2002, following UNESCO’s adoption of the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, recognizing the need to “enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence.”