A/HRC/31/59 16. Theorists such as the historian Lotte Hughes caution us not to “use the term ‘community’ uncritically”.5 The Special Rapporteur intends to heed such cautions, while fully respecting those group rights that are guaranteed in international law. As her predecessor did, she recognizes that “communities are run through with divergent interests … [and] thick seams of power that structure any given collection of people”.6 She hopes to problematize the term “community” along the lines of the critical conceptualization suggested by some cultural heritage experts: “one that engages with social relationships in all their messiness, taking account of action, process, power and change”.7 Hence, she will aim to use alternate terms like “group” and “collectivity” when possible and, where she refers to “community”, to do so carefully. 17. The problem is, however, not only one of vocabulary but also of concept. The Special Rapporteur regards the assumption of “community” as one that can have positive consequences for securing the rights of individuals to enjoy and practise their culture with others and also as one that can pose a threat to the rights of dissenting or disempowered individuals within any of these groups and to social cohesion if carelessly applied. It can lead to what Amartya Sen has deplored as “plural monoculturalism” 8 rather than genuine pluralism, which is a key goal of cultural rights. 18. While the recognition of difference is important in the field of human rights, so is the recognition of commonality. We must not forget that one of the most important communities to which we all belong is “the human family”. As Souleymane Bachir Diagne warned, “democracy is threatened by the fragmentation that produces the retreat into microidentities and the resurgence of ethnicism”.9 In a world of increasing sectarianism, we need a vocabulary that respects diversities and recognizes power differentials and historical injustices, while still promoting the idea of living together in harmony or vivre-ensemble. Diversity must be inscribed in equality and solidarity and vice versa. Indeed, cultural rights are vital in this regard. As Elsa Stamatopoulou has noted, “were we to convince policy makers at the national and international level to actively and visibly pursue the promotion and protection of cultural rights, we would have certainly gone a long way … towards creating a polis where one would focus less on identities that divide us and more on the many cultures we share and enjoy”.10 19. The Special Rapporteur has been particularly disturbed by recent political discourses of exclusion, sometimes directed at entire religious or other groups. One of her key commitments is to promote the enjoyment of cultural rights without any discrimination, including that based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, migrant status, disability or poverty. Committed to integrate both disability and gender perspectives into her work as emphasized by the terms of her mandate, she will also give particular focus to the equal cultural rights of women. Moreover, she plans to pay close attention generally to the cultural rights of those at heightened risk of human rights violations due to group or other status. 5 6 7 8 9 10 6 Lotte Hughes, “Nature, issues at stake and challenges”, paper prepared for the “Negotiating Cultural Rights” conference, Copenhagen, November 2015. Emma Waterton and Laurajane Smith, “The recognition and misrecognition of community heritage”, International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 16, Nos. 1-2 (Jan-March 2010), p. 8. Ibid., p. 5. Amartya Sen, “The uses and abuses of multiculturalism”, The New Republic, 27 February 27 2006. Souleymane Bachir Diagne, “Keys to the 20th Century” (2001), cited in UNESCO, 70 Quotes for Peace (2015), p. 36. Elsa Stamatopoulou, Cultural Rights in International Law: Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Beyond (Leiden/Boston, Martinus Nijhoff, 2007), p. 258.