A/HRC/14/36 line between cultural and other rights. The references below have been identified on a preliminary basis as the most important ones, and should not be considered exhaustive. 12. The most obvious right to be mentioned is the right to take part or participate in cultural life, which is referred to in resolution 10/23 of the Human Rights Council and is widely recognized in human rights instruments.15 Particular reference must be made to article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 15, paragraph 1 (a), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The independent expert welcomes in this regard the adoption by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of general comment No. 21, which further clarifies the scope and content of this right. This document stresses the relevance of a wide range of norms included in instruments on civil and political rights, on the rights of persons belonging to minorities, on the rights of indigenous peoples and on the right to development.16 It also stresses that there are three interrelated main components of the right to participate or take part in cultural life: (a) participation in (b) access to, and (c) contribution to cultural life.17 This right also includes the right not to participate.18 13. In its resolution 10/23, the Human Rights Council refers to the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, enshrined in article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 15, paragraph 1 (b), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Little has been done in this area, and the practice of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights thereon is underdeveloped. The independent expert notes, however, that a series of experts’ meetings on the issue was organized recently by UNESCO and the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, in collaboration with many partners, including OHCHR and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Venice Statement on the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications, adopted at the end of these meetings, constitutes an important first step to elaborating the normative content of this right and the related obligations of States and other actors.19 14. A number of other rights relating to culture and science are also relevant for the mandate of the independent expert, such as the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which a person is the author, enshrined in article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 15, paragraph 1 (c), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2005, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted its general comment No. 17 on this right, and this provides useful guidance to the independent expert. The freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity, set out in article 15, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also deserves to be mentioned. The independent expert notes in this regard that article 19, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes that the right to freedom of expression shall include the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of one’s choice. 15. The right to education, enshrined in numerous international instruments, in particular articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 15 16 17 18 19 GE.10-12440 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 21, para. 3. Ibid., para. 3. Ibid., para. 15. Ibid., para. 7. See UNESCO, The Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications (Paris, 2009). 7