A/HRC/49/54 ultimately, our common culture as humankind. Cultural frameworks form concentric, overlapping and disorderly formed circles around the individual. At times, the different elements converge and, at other times, they contradict each other. Everyone is in “a constant contradictory state of becoming, in which both social institutions and individual wills are deeply implicated”.7 It is up to the individual’s agency to decide which elements to practise and adopt. 12. Cultural diversity is the multiplicity of these processes and frameworks. It is essential to sustainable human development and dignity. When it is not provided with possibilities to grow, change, adapt and evolve and with a diversity of inputs to do so, any ecosystem – human, cultural, economic, linguistic, natural, social or political – loses its dynamism, elasticity and capacity to adapt. Cultural diversity is an essential resource for development, democracy and the progress of science, and ultimately for peace. 13. The recognition and protection of cultural rights is thus a tool of affirmation of one’s identity and ultimately a tool of empowerment. Individuals are empowered by learning more about themselves and our world through access to cultural activities and products of cultural heritage, by acquiring knowledge of history and civilizations, by becoming emotionally excited or perplexed by the arts, by performing the customs of their cultures and by reflecting on world views, theirs and those of others. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur puts emphasis on the benefits of cultural rights for all individuals and communities. She looks forward to learning and sharing positive examples of empowerment through cultural rights and of good practice by States and non-State entities in protecting and developing cultural rights and/or protecting human rights through culture, and she invites all shareholders to share such experiences and examples with her. IV. Taking stock and setting priorities 14. The Special Rapporteur is committed to engaging with all aspects of culture and related rights. As stated by her predecessors, the mandate on cultural rights is not aimed at protecting culture or cultural heritage per se, but at promoting the conditions allowing all people, without discrimination, to access, participate in and contribute to all aspects of cultural life in a continuously developing manner. A. Protecting cultural rights relating to monuments, objects and sites 15. Tangible manifestations of culture were the focus of the report of the previous mandate holder in which the intentional destruction of cultural heritage as a violation of cultural rights – in both conflict and non-conflict situations, and by both States and non-State actors – was discussed. 8 The fight against the destruction of cultural heritage was substantially strengthened by the judgment in 2006 of the International Criminal Court, where for the first time the Court convicted an individual for war crimes associated with the destruction of cultural heritage. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, a member of the Ansar Eddine armed group operating in Mali, was found guilty of the war crime of attacking historic and religious buildings in Timbuktu. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. The Special Rapporteur wishes to support further attempts to eradicate the intentional destruction of cultural heritage and invites civil society to share such practices with her. 16. The Special Rapporteur believes in the need to engage in further reflection on ways to redress the loss or damage of cultural heritage of communities and groups, particularly – but not only – threatened minorities, indigenous peoples and victims of assimilationist policies. In addition to restitution, the Special Rapporteur is eager to explore alternative ways of redress, including redress in the form of special benefits for the community to compensate for their separation from their cultural heritage. 7 8 Angela P. Harris, “Race and essentialism in feminist legal theory”, Stanford Law Review, vol. 42, No. 3 (February 1990), p. 584. See A/HRC/31/59 and A/HRC/31/59/Corr.1. 5