Seventeenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee
The Seventeenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was held at UNESCO Headquarters from 27 to 29 February 2024.
During this session, the Committee adopted its work plan for the period 2024‑2025, in accordance with the strategic orientations defined by the Conference of Parties at its Ninth Session in June 2023. It also took into consideration the results of the call for experts for the Reflection Group on the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment, as well as the preliminary proposals concerning the Reflection Group on the implementation of Article 16 on “Preferential treatment for developing countries.” In addition, the Committee examined proposals related to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Convention in 2025. Furthermore, while reaffirming the fundamental role of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity in implementing the Convention, it approved the funding requests submitted under the fourteenth call of the Fund and adopt the Fund’s budget (2024‑2025).
Finally, the Committee focused on issues of collaboration with civil society organizations to ensure the efficient and participatory implementation of the Convention and examined the conclusions of the fourth edition of the Civil Society Forum.
Decisions
Decisions of the seventeenth session of the Committee
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Registration for the Seventeenth 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 19 February 2024, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (CET).
The purpose of this meeting is to provide an overview of the provisional agenda and timetable of the seventeenth 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 Zoom: ) 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 27 February 2024 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.