A/73/227 B. A universal human rights culture 43. Universality is a global human project, and an ongoing one, and has become a part of global cultures. Around the world, countless human rights defenders and advocates, experts, political actors and, most importantly, ordinary people from many diverse backgrounds have embraced and internalized the notion of the universality of human rights as being central to their work, their advocacy, their politics and the way that they live their lives and take part in cultural life. The universality of human rights is itself an important cultural project. Recognition of human dignity, equality and justice, as well as abuses of rights, often takes place through the mode of lived experience. 44. Governments have primary obligations to promote, protect and implement the concept of the universality of human rights. Other actors, including international organizations, transnational corporations, experts, the media and indeed “every individual and every organ of society”, to use the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have a role to play in striving for universal rights. The role of human rights defenders in promoting universality is also critical. The Special Rapporteur was pleased to note the recent creation by a global coalition of human rights defenders of an Observatory on the Universality of Rights to monitor international developments in this regard, and welcomes efforts of this kind, which should be encouraged and supported. 32 45. As asserted in the UNESCO World Report 2009, “recognition of cultural diversity grounds the universality of human rights in the realities of our societies by drawing attention to their appropriation by all individuals who can identify these rights with a sense of ownership, regardless of language, tradition and location ”. 33 Each society is encouraged to highlight the expressions of universal human rights embodied in its languages and traditions, to identify in its own diverse cultural resources, in sayings, tales and philosophical wisdom, the values at the root of human rights and of human dignity. One example is a Mauritanian initiative in which students collected and analysed examples of values and traditions to raise awareness of the manifold links between them and universal human rights. 34 Connecting universal values with lived realities and aspirations and being able to quote an article of the Universal Declaration together with a traditional saying that conveys the same message reinforces the ownership of these values. 46. The World Report further notes “the fact that these rights and freedoms are meant to be exercised in a wide variety of cultural environments by no means implies that universal norms can be relativized in terms of their application ” (p. 225). It is the nature of inherent, universal human rights norms to apply i n all social and cultural contexts. As stated repeatedly by the mandate holders in the field of cultural rights, cultures are dynamic, they change over time and are areas of internal debate and contestation. Not all expressions of cultural diversity are ac ceptable when viewed from the perspective of universal human rights. Each tradition and practice identified as “cultural” has to stand the test of universal human rights and show its capacity to build and maintain human dignity to be legitimate. 35 The exercise of cultural rights __________________ 32 33 34 35 14/26 See www.oursplatform.org. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UNESCO World Report: Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue (Paris, 2009), p. 225. Abdoulaye Sow, “Traditions, droits humains et diversité culturelle face aux mutations sociales en Mauritanie”, submission at the Special Rapporteur’s expert consultation, March 2018. Jean-Bernard Marie, “L’universalité des droits de l’homme revisitée par la diversité culturelle”, in Gilbert Vincent (ed.), La partition des cultures: droits culturels et droits de l’homme (Strasbourg, presses universitaires, 2008), p. 387. 18-12312