Sixteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee
The Sixteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was held at UNESCO Headquarters from 7 to 10 February 2023.
In keeping with its desire to broaden and diversify the range of stakeholders involved in promoting the objectives of the Convention, the Committee examined proposals to facilitate consultations with micro, small and medium-sized cultural and creative enterprises. It also considered proposals to highlight the commitment of cultural institutions and organizations to promote access to diverse cultural expressions originating in their territory or other countries of the world, as well as proposals to streamline the quadrennial periodic reporting cycle. In addition, the Committee discussed various modalities to strengthen collaboration with civil society organizations for the effective implementation of the Convention.
Furthermore, the Committee approved the funding requests submitted under the thirteenth call for funding requests to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity and reaffirmed the fundamental role of this Fund for the implementation of the 2005 Convention. Finally, this session was an opportunity for the Committee to examine its report on its activities and decisions in order to transmit it to the 9th session of the Conference of Parties that will be held from 6 to 8 June 2023.
Working Documents
Information Documents
Information and Exchange Meeting
The Secretariat of the 2005 Convention will organize an information and exchange meeting for the Members of the Intergovernmental Committee, which will be held in Room XI on 18 January 2023, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (CET).
The purpose of this meeting is to provide an overview of the provisional agenda and timetable of the sixteenth session of the Committee. This information meeting is also open to all Parties not Members of the Committee that would like to participate.
Side Events
Several events will take place on the margins of the formal session, including:
- a meeting with National Commissions and National Points of Contact for the Convention, which will be held on Tuesday, 7 February from 09.30 to 10.30, in Room IV.
- a meeting of partner countries in the framework of the third phase of the UNESCO/SIDA project “ReIShaping Policies for Creativity and Artistic Freedom (2022-2025)", which will be held on Tuesday, 7 February from 10.00 to 12.00, in Room VIII.
- a working session between the members of the Bureau of the sixteenth session of the Committee and civil society observers, which will be held on Tuesday, 7 February from 11.00 to 13.00 in Room IV.
Participation of Civil Society
In accordance with Rule 7.4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Intergovernmental Committee and its Decision 1.EXT.IGC 5, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) having interests and activities in the field covered by the Convention who wish to participate as observers to a session or all sessions of the Committee, are asked to submit a written request to the Director-General of UNESCO. Only NGOs which meet the criteria provided by the Annex to the operational guidelines of Article 11 (Role and participation of civil society) are eligible. The request must be accompanied by the documents mentioned in paragraph 2 of the Annex.
At its ninth session, the Committee requested the Secretariat to organize a working session between civil society representatives and the Bureau prior to the opening of the meetings of the governing bodies in order to address, inter alia, specific issues of importance to civil society (Decision 9.IGC 9). This year, the meeting between civil society representatives and the Bureau will be held on 7 February 2023 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.