A/HRC/31/59 42. The previous Special Rapporteur stressed that people can belong to multiple cultural groups and should be free to determine their own relationships with those groups. In accordance with this core principle, the Special Rapporteur would like to research the cultural rights of people with mixed or multiple identities, such as those bearing multiple nationalities or identifying as being from mixed ethnic or religious backgrounds. Many people in the world in themselves incarnate the principle of cultural diversity and are often forced into a framework of monolithic categories and conceptions of identity, in violation of their human rights. 43. The Special Rapporteur believes it essential to give particular consideration to the relationship between culture and new technology, which can be both a way of enhancing cultural rights and a serious challenge to them. Related areas include the globalization of exchanges and of information. Enormous imbalances have emerged in terms of access to and control of the means of information and communication. 44. Finally, the Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize her commitment to popularizing the message of cultural rights and her intention to use culture itself, including in the form of art and music as well as new media, as means for doing so. She recognizes in particular the need to reach out to young people, who are the future of cultural rights. We live in a world where youth are cultural trailblazers with new technology, virtual worlds and digital platforms, which are forging new cultural environments and forms. We live in a world where children may find death at school, at the hands of a classmate or an armed group, or while being at work in a factory rather than sitting on a school bench. We live in a world where a 20-year old can destroy a 2000-year-old temple. To paraphrase the words of poet Gabriela Mistral, “Many of the things we need can wait. But the child cannot. Right now is the time … her senses are being developed … To her we cannot answer, ‘Tomorrow’, Her name is ‘Today’”.15 III. Intentional destruction of cultural heritage 45. In light of recent events that have shocked the conscience of the world, the Special Rapporteur addresses the issue of the intentional destruction of cultural heritage as an urgent priority. Herein she presents preliminary findings, and she will submit her final study to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session. 46. In future, the Special Rapporteur also hopes to explore other critical issues related to cultural heritage, including gender discrimination in accessing and designating heritage sites,16 as well as destruction of cultural heritage in the name of development. A. Importance of cultural heritage from a human rights perspective 47. Cultural heritage is significant in the present, both as a message from the past and as a pathway to the future. Viewed from a human rights perspective, it is important not only in itself, but also in relation to its human dimension, in particular its significance for individuals and groups and their identity and development processes (see A/HRC/17/38 and Corr.1, para. 77). Cultural heritage is to be understood as the resources enabling the cultural identification and development processes of individuals and groups, which they, implicitly or explicitly, wish to transmit to future generations (ibid., paras. 4-5). 15 16 Gabriela Mistral, “Llamado por el niño”, in UNESCO, 70 Quotes for Peace, p. 14. UNESCO, Gender Equality: Heritage and Creativity (2014), pp. 61-69. 11