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relevant sectors of the public in the identification of needs in the culture sectors, and in
the development and evaluation of COVID-19 relief measures;
(j)
Fully implement the recommendations contained in the UNESCO
publication Culture in Crisis: Policy Guide for a Resilient Creative Sector, including with
regard to direct support for artists and cultural professionals and maintaining
commitments to gender equality across all culture sectors;
(k)
Ensure the diversity of cultural expressions, including through full
implementation of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions and the related operational guidelines on the implementation of
the Convention in the digital environment;
(l)
Implement the ASPIRE guidelines on COVID-19 response and recovery
free from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity;163
(m) Assess the impact of all pandemic measures on women, persons with
disabilities, members of minorities, indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups,
including those working in the cultural sectors, to ensure they have benefited equally;164
(n)
Ensure that artistic freedom and scientific freedom are respected,
protected and fulfilled during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, including for those
who are critical of government responses to the pandemic and to the post-pandemic
situation;
(o)
Release all artists and cultural rights defenders detained as a result of
their creative work, to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19;
(p)
Ensure respect for human rights in cyberspace and take effective steps,
nationally and internationally, to address the digital divide;
(q)
Effectively combat denial of science and of COVID-19, including by
ensuring science and public-health education for all in accordance with relevant
international standards;
(r)
Depoliticize the scientific response to the pandemic, focusing on fact-based
and evidence-based policymaking so as to guarantee the right to science;
(s)
Join the Solidarity Call to Action and the COVID-19 Technology Access
Pool, which are aimed at facilitating the sharing of knowledge and intellectual property
for pandemic responses;
(t)
Investigate all threats and violence against public health officials and
health-care workers and bring perpetrators to justice in accordance with international
standards.
163
164
Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/SOGIGuidelinesCOVID19_EN.docx.
See UNESCO, Culture in Crisis.
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