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to the target or the cultural rights aspects of the target. 61 Thus, there is a gap in the
Sustainable Development Goals monitoring framework and a need to devise
complementary ways of assessing how cultural rights can enable and underpin the
achievement of sustainable development and vice versa.
48. To address this challenge, in 2009, UNESCO developed the Culture for
Development Indicator Suite, aimed at documenting the contribution of culture – both
as a sector of activities and as a set of values and norms – in terms of providing both
economic and non-economic benefits. 62 In 2019, this was further adapted and tailored
to the Sustainable Development Goals, as the Thematic Indicators for Culture in the
2030 Agenda. 63 Some countries have used these indicators, which generate facts and
figures demonstrating the multidimensional contribution of culture to development
and examples of how the indicators can have an impact on national policy.
49. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) methodology for developing human rights indicators 64 can provide support
through by using structural, process and outcome indicators to as sess States’
commitments and obligations, the efforts put in place to realize them, and the results
achieved, respectively. 65
50. Guidance from human rights treaty bodies can also inform these efforts,
although references by treaty bodies to cultural rights in development projects are
rare and focused on indigenous peoples. 66 In particular, using the availability,
accessibility, acceptability, adaptability and appropriateness conditions (the
“necessary conditions for the full realization of the right of ev eryone to take part in
cultural life” outlined in the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
general comment No. 21 (2009) on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life)
and the data generated by such forms of measurement can improve th e understanding
of how cultural rights can support sustainable development and vice versa. approach
could inform any post-2030 sustainable development framework, which has the
potential and need to rethink the integration of culture and cultural rights in a more
holistic manner.
51. Since 2019, the Art Lab for Human Rights and Dialogue, coordinated by
UNESCO, has sought to mainstream cultural approaches and processes in
humanitarian and development work. This effort will be amplified by a plan on the
Arts for dignity, justice and peace, which should aim to integrate arts and culture into
all United Nations programmes. 67 Despite the principle of leaving no one behind, the
Art Lab network has observed the failure to include the voices of vulnerable people
and has recommended projects to include such voices in methodologies, interventions
and processes at the cultural policy level.
52. The Special Rapporteur fully endorses the continuous calls of many
stakeholders for culture to be given a more important place throughout the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda. She fully lends her support to the Culture 2030
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63
64
65
66
67
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Francesca Thornberry and John Crowley in expert consultations.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Culture for
Development Indicators: Methodology Manual (Paris, 2014), pp. 9 and 10.
UNESCO, Culture 2030 Indicators (Paris, 2019).
OHCHR, Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation (2012).
Francesca Thornberry in expert consultation.
Research by Rebecca Gleig and Raquel Carneiro Fernandes, University of Sussex law clinics.
Contribution of the Art Lab for Human Rights and Dialogue, pp. 3 and 4.
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