CULTURAL RIGHTS & PUBLIC SPACE Manifestations and demonstrations mostly take place in public spaces. But what is public space and to whom does it belong? Is public space a place belonging to the public or does it belong to a city or a state? Is anything allowed in public spaces? And if not, who is regulating what is permissible, and when? There are no universal definitions of public space. Nor are regulations the same in all countries, and even less so in each city or township in a particular country. Nudity is banned in most public spaces such as in city squares or streets, but not necessarily on all public beaches. Live music is regulated in many cities. You are also not allowed to plant your own tree in a public space. Over the years many conflicts over the definition and use of public space have occurred. Several researchers addressed this in the 2016 Routledge publication Order and Conflict in Public Space. 38The collection used case studies concerning the management, use, and transgression of public space to invite reflection on the way in which typical social interaction is framed and shaped by the physical environment and vice versa. International experts from fields including geography, criminology, sociology, and urban studies came together to debate the concepts of order and conflict in public space. In her July 2019 report to the UN General Assembly, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Ms. Karima Bennoune, talked about “the importance of public spaces for the exercise of cultural rights and the challenges which must be addressed so that everyone can access and enjoy such spaces. [This report] reviews existing frameworks and proposes a more holistic human rights-based approach for policymaking.”39 Preparing the report the UN mandate invited states and civil society organizations as well as individual experts to submit their input. Ukraine was one of the countries submitting input to the report: “According to the Ukrainian legislation public place means a part (parts) of any building, facility that is accessible or open to the public free of charge, by invitation or for a fee, permanently, periodically or from time to time, including porches, as well as underground passages, stadiums (Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine of September 22, 2005 On Measures of Prevention and Reduction of the Use of Tobacco Products and Their Harmful Impact on the Health of the Population).” 40 In many countries a fee is charged for setting up commercial stalls in public spaces, whereas information booths may be allowed for free. Similarly street performers may be allowed, but in some countries tax authorities and/or the police will keep an eye on whether the performers ask for money from the public. In general, the more central a public space is in a city, the more control there is. 38 A Pdf can be downloaded at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299492142_Order_and_Conflict_in_Public_Space/ link/5cfe431692851c874c5b8297/download 39 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/ImportancePublicSpaces.aspx 40 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/CulturalRights/Call/16_Ukraine_Responses.docx 33