A/HRC/52/35 education and their socio-economic rights materialized so that they can feasibly distance themselves from any cultural framework should they wish to do so.51 57. In assessing measures to address illiberal cultural practices of migrants (as well as of non-migrants), the State must apply the principles of legality, legitimacy and proportionality and maintain the core of all rights. In restricting cultural rights, States must ensure that such restrictions are not used to undermine, dehumanize or segregate whole cultural groups; rather they must continue to promote respectful co-living. Also, in helping to eradicate illiberal practices, host communities must always be reflective of their own cultural prejudices, stereotypes and practices. These principles must act as a guide in the measures States take to address illiberal practices. 58. The Special Rapporteur also wishes to draw attention to the legislation and practices that discriminate against migrants married to individuals of the host society. Such policies act as important obstacles to cultural diversity, violate human rights and are assimilationist. 52 It is clear that international law prohibits assimilation. The prohibition of assimilation is proclaimed, among other provisions, in article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and in the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, it constitutes customary international law, so is prohibitive in all States. VIII. Need for common public cultural spaces 59. The rights of migrants to enjoy and participate in the cultural life of the community (both the host community and the communities they belong to), to artistic freedom, especially for migrant artists, and to access, practice and maintain their cultures can only be achieved through interculturalism and cultural exchanges. Migrants must not be left to celebrate their cultures only in a separate, enclosed system. 53 Artistic exhibitions by migrants are often restricted only to areas where they live; their cultural values and practices are not regularly discussed in the media or in the everyday cultural life of the host countries in a positive manner. In many countries, residents can live their entire life without knowing anything about the hundreds of thousands of migrants living in the same city. 60. Creating common spaces where interaction happens organically is essential. For example, between 2014 and 2017 the Göteborg Opera and the Swedish Red Cross collaborated to organize a performance of the Swedish hit musical Kristina från Duvemåla reinterpreted to integrate the experiences and songs of a group of people recently arrived in Sweden seeking asylum. It created a public space where migrants and non-migrants interacted through culture.54 61. Cities and local authorities may be the best equipped to create meeting places that are conducive to the establishment of a climate of community, trust and proximity between migrants and the host society. Their proximity to the population favours the deployment of initiatives, including cultural policies and programmes, that have the direct effect of humanizing, valuing and promoting the cultural contribution of newcomers to the cultural life of a society.55 62. Schools are also important spaces for the development of interculturalism. State school curricula often do not refer at all to the history of migration, neither do they provide any understanding of the cultural realities of migrants. In the Dominican Republic, attempts to make the school curriculum more diverse have been reported, with Haitian and Dominican historians trying to negotiate a common historical narrative between the two countries, with a view to reducing negative stereotypes across the island. The Special Rapporteur would welcome more efforts and support so that the outcomes of such collaboration become clear. 51 52 53 54 55 GE.23-01011 See Alexandra Xanthaki, “When universalism becomes a bully: revisiting the interplay between cultural rights and women’s rights”, Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 41, No. 3 (August 2019). See, for example, CERD/C/BHR/CO/8-14, para. 21. See submission by the Refugee and Migration Studies Hub, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. See submission about the international choir project of the Göteborg Opera, Sweden. See submission by the Gdansk Municipality, Poland. 13