A/HRC/49/54 based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin (art. 1). The need to eradicate discrimination in cultural activities has been raised by several United Nations human rights bodies, including in connection to migrant workers,1 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons2 and persons with disabilities.3 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination already noted the importance of cultural rights in protecting vulnerable groups to restore the balance of power among the components of society, promote intercultural understanding and tolerance, help to deconstruct racial stereotypes, facilitate the free exchange of ideas and offer alternative points of view and counterpoints. 4 Importantly, States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination must make no distinctions between citizens and non-citizens (art. 1 (2)) and should (not merely could) take concrete measures, including positive measures, for the development and protection of the rights of vulnerable groups in the cultural field (arts. 1 (4) and 2 (2)). The Human Rights Committee has also recently urged States to strengthen awareness-raising efforts aimed at promoting respect for human rights and tolerance for diversity, revisiting and eradicating stereotypical prejudices. 5 The Special Rapporteur will follow the example of United Nations bodies and adopt an intersectional approach in her work, highlighting the effects of multiple grounds of vulnerability. 8. The Special Rapporteur is convinced that the protection of cultural rights and cultural diversity can be promoted only by collaborating with different bodies and agencies of the United Nations. She is committed to deepening these links and invites United Nations bodies to engage with her on issues touching on cultural rights and cultural diversity. III. Positive force of culture and cultural diversity 9. Culture is much more than the sum of products. It is a process and a way of life. 6 It permeates all spheres of life and is as essential to human experience as air, water, shelter and security. It is at the core of being human: it is how people assign meaning to their lives and understand their human, natural and manufactured environment, as individuals and collectives. Culture embodies the responses human beings give to the big challenges in life, such as life and death, parenthood and childhood, growing, coming of age and getting older. Culture embodies the ways humans communicate with one another and organize social life – through the development and transmission of language, values and gestures, and the creation of norms, rules and institutions. And it is about the relationship humans have and develop with nature and the environment they live in – through specific ways of obtaining and transforming the food and water resources surrounding them, of facing a changing climate and of devising adapted shelter and ways of life. 10. The Special Rapporteur wishes to stress that culture is a positive element and a positive drive for the realization of human rights. Cultural resources and experiences are the way we build our identity, our sense of self and our place in the world. The gradual understanding of the concept of culture as “a way of life” has democratized the way cultural rights are reconfigured as the emphasis has moved from objects of beauty to everyday expressions of identity. It emphasizes their importance in recognizing the human dignity expressed in all types of interactions, from communicating with one another to inhabiting a territory, from creating and transmitting knowledge to ensuring an adequate standard of living, from caring for loved ones to engaging in social, economic and political exchanges. 11. Everyone has multiple cultural resources that shape them. These may derive from their ethnic background, their minority status, their family values, their continent’s priorities and, 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, general comment No. 5 (2021), para. 68. See also CERD/C/NLD/CO/22-24, paras. 33–34. A/74/181, paras. 5 and 103 (b). Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 2 (2014), para. 44. See also A/HRC/31/62, paras. 15 and 31; and A/HRC/46/27, para. 51. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 35 (2013), paras. 24, 29, 31 and 34. CCPR/C/DEU/CO/7, para. 11 (c). See also CCPR/C/HUN/CO/6, para. 17. A/HRC/14/36, para. 5.