Eighteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee
The Eighteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions will be held at UNESCO Headquarters from 11 to 14 February 2025.
During this session, the Committee will examine the recommendations drawn up by the Reflection Group on the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment, as well as the recommendations prepared by the Intergovernmental Reflection Group on the implementation of Article 16 on “Preferential treatment for developing countries”. The Committee will also consider the roadmap for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Convention in 2025. In addition, while reaffirming the fundamental role of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity in the implementation of the Convention, it will approve the funding requests submitted under the fifteenth call and examine the report of the third external evaluation of the Fund.
Finally, the Committee will focus on issues of collaboration with civil society organizations to ensure the efficient and participatory implementation of the Convention, and will consider preliminary proposals for the organization of the fifth edition of the Civil Society Forum.
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Registration for the Eighteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee
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, in Room XI on 21 January 2025, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (CET).
The purpose of this meeting is to provide an overview of the provisional agenda and timetable of the eighteenth session of the Committee. This information meeting is also open to all Parties not Members of the Committee that would like to participate.
Kindly note that the meeting will be held in hybrid format (including via ) and that simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and French.
Side Events
Participation of Civil Society
In accordance with Rule 7.4 of the and its , 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.
You may find more information related to the admission procedure, here: /creativity/en/partnerships/civil-society-organizations/partners.
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 11 February 2025 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.