A/HRC/14/36 others, as well as groups of people, to develop and express their humanity, their world view and the meanings they give to their existence and their development through, inter alia, values, beliefs, convictions, languages, knowledge and the arts, institutions and ways of life. They may also be considered as protecting access to cultural heritage and resources that allow such identification and development processes to take place.10 10. One debate that constantly arises in international human rights law, in particular when it concerns cultural rights, relates to the collective dimension of rights — referring to the collective exercise of individual rights on the one hand, and the existence of collective rights per se – understood as group rights — on the other hand. Indeed, “the term ‘cultural life’ itself strongly suggests the collective”,11 and article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights expressly refers to the cultural life of “the community”, which today must be understood by its plural “communities”.12 Several points must be signalled in this respect. First, the collective dimension of cultural rights has been recognized in instruments such as the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.13 Second, the existence of collective cultural rights is a reality in international human rights law today, in particular in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In addition, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its general comment No. 17 on the right of everyone to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he or she is the author (art. 15, para. 8) and general comment No. 21 (para. 15), underlined that cultural rights may be exercised alone, or in association with others or as a community.14 Third, this does not imply the denial of individual cultural rights: individuals always enjoy their right, inter alia, to participate or not to participate in one or several communities; to freely develop their multiple identities; to access their cultural heritage as well as that of others; and to contribute to the creation of culture, including through the contestation of dominant norms and values within the communities they choose to belong to as well as those of other communities. The independent expert proposes to explore further the relationship between individual and collective cultural rights, taking into consideration the practice of human rights mechanisms at the national, regional and international level. 2. References in United Nations human rights instruments 11. Many explicit and implicit references to cultural rights as understood above are found in international instruments and the practice of human rights mechanisms. Explicit references include rights that expressly refer to culture. Implicit references include rights that although not expressly referring to culture may constitute an important legal basis for the protection of cultural rights as defined above. It must be stressed that cultural rights are so closely interconnected with other human rights that it is sometimes difficult to draw a 10 11 12 13 14 6 Based on the working definitions of culture proposed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (general comment No. 21, para. 13) and the Fribourg Declaration on Cultural Rights, art. 2 (a). See Patrice Meyer-Bisch, “Définir les droits culturels”, working paper submitted to the seminar on implementing cultural rights: nature, issues at stake and challenges, Geneva, 1–2 February 2010, para. 12. E/C.12/40/15, p. 9. Ibid., pp. 7–9. Art. 3, para. 1: “Persons belonging to minorities may exercise their rights (…) individually as well as in community with other members of their group, without any discrimination.” See also Jaime Marchan Romero, “Derechos culturales: la practica del Comité de derechos economicos, sociales et culturales”, working paper submitted to the seminar on implementing cultural rights: nature, issues at stake and challenges, p. 5. GE.10-12440