A/HRC/40/53 poet imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for the content of his verse; and Tashi Wangchuk, a Tibetan language rights defender.11 D. Engagement with stakeholders States 39. The Special Rapporteur expresses her deep appreciation of States that have engaged with the mandate including by taking part in her interactive dialogues, by extending invitations to conduct missions and by making financial contributions. 40. However, the Special Rapporteur aspires to much greater interaction and dialogue with diverse States from all regions of the world. She hopes that participation in her interactive dialogues, especially in the General Assembly, will increase. Active engagement is needed to affirm commitment to cultural rights and advance their implementation. Civil society and academia 41. During the existence of the mandate, cultural rights have benefited from increased interest from researchers. There are a growing number of scientific papers and publications analysing aspects of cultural rights, referring explicitly to and building on the work of the mandate. Of particular interest have been the publication of the commentaries on the Fribourg Declaration in 2010, the Wroclaw Commentaries in 2016 and Negotiating Cultural Rights: Issues at Stake, Challenges and Recommendations in 2017.12 42. Certain universities have also included cultural rights and the work of the mandate in their programmes and courses.13 For example, a UNESCO Chair in cultural rights was recently created at the University of Copenhagen. The Special Rapporteur created a United Nations human rights practicum at the University of California, Davis School of Law, with the support of the administration of the Law School, which trains law students to work on cultural rights. The Arts Rights Justice programme at the University of Hildesheim, Germany, created in collaboration with the first mandate holder, refers to reports of the mandate in its training and has developed a network of scholars and cultural professionals advocating for cultural rights. 14 A similar network working on the intersection between arts, culture and conflict transformation is currently forming.15 43. In various parts of the world, civil society organizations are increasingly aware of cultural rights. Each questionnaire sent out by the mandate to research thematic issues has been an opportunity to engage with new sectors of civil society and each thematic report has fostered new dialogues. New organizations have been created around cultural rights and some long-standing ones have broadened their mandates to include cultural rights. The work on freedom of artistic expression and creativity has been particularly successful in that regard, but there are also promising developments in the fields of heritage and the fight against fundamentalism and extremism. 44. One of the key commitments of the current Special Rapporteur has been to give a voice to human rights defenders, including defenders of cultural rights and women’s human rights defenders, and diverse cultural practitioners in her work and at the United Nations. 11 12 13 14 15 See communications MRT 4/2017, SAU 10/2015 and CHN 4/2018. See Andreas Wiesand, Kalliopi Chainoglu and Anna Sledzinska-Simon, eds., Culture and Human Rights: the Wroclaw Commentaries, (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2016), Patrice Meyer-Bisch and Mylène Bidault, Déclarer les droits culturels: commentaire de la Déclaration de Fribourg (Zurich/Brussels, Schulthess/Bruylant, 2010) and Lucky Belder and Helle Porsdam, eds., Negotiating Cultural Rights: Issues at Stake, Challenges and Recommendations (Cheltenham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017). The information received for the present report mainly concerned universities in Europe and North America. The Special Rapporteur encourages academics from all regions to inform her about relevant programmes. See www.uni-hildesheim.de/arts-rights-justice/. See www.brandeis.edu/ethics/peacebuildingarts/impact/index.html. 9