Saturday 3 July 2010

Professor Ben Kiernan discusses cultural genocide

Germann Avocats' Study on the Implementation of the
2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and
Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
for the European Parliament

The Geneva based law firm Germann Avocats and its multidisciplinary research team successfully completed a study for the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education (tender procedure IP/B/CULT/IC/2009-057).

This study provides a summary of the state of implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 2005. Focusing on fields in which the EU is expected to provide leadership or coordination, it is intended to provide ideas and long-term guidance on implementing the Convention. For this purpose, it analyses the obligations set out by this treaty. It assesses various practices in implementing the UNESCO Convention from a legal and practical viewpoint, and identifies challenges and measures to help achieve the objectives of this instrument.

The Research Team presented the Study "Implementing the UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity" to the Members of the European Parliament at a workshop in Brussels on 2 June 2010.


This Study can be downloaded from the Section "Main Study" at

www.diversitystudy.eu

High level experts from academia discuss Germann's and Ferri's legal contributions on new ideas related to the implementation of the UNESCO Convention (see "Stakeholders' Dialogue"):

Professor Ben Kiernan (Yale University) on cultural genocide prevention;

Professor Fiona Macmillan (Birkbeck University of London) on the implications of intellectual property and competition;

Professor Jan Aart Scholte (University of Warwick) on civil society involvement.