The Unesco is working on a draft convention on cultural diversity, the Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions. The draft contains many references to copyright, intellectual property rights and access to information. On 15 November 2004 the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) has presented a critical paper to the Unesco delegates, endorsed by many EDRI-members and other civil rights organisations.

The Unesco convention was originally designed to ensure that culture, in the age of globalized culture industries, is not reduced to a commodity. Its aim is to allow each country to implement cultural, media, and communications policies that foster cultural diversity. However, some governments have proposed dangerous revisions that would transform the draft Convention into an instrument that expands corporate ownership of culture. CRIS points out that the convention must not be made subordinate to existing or future trade agreements. Secondly, it should be designed to not only protect diversity of national and regional cultural industries, but to protect the cultural diversity and the communication rights of all peoples. Thirdly, the convention must balance any references to the protection of intellectual property rights with reference to protection of the cultural commons. Otherwise, references to intellectual property rights should be removed altogether.

Unesco draft convention
http://www.unesco.org/culture

CRIS comments
http://www.mediatrademonitor.org/cris-unesco.php