A/HRC/18/35/Add.6 43. The Special Rapporteur understands that one obstacle to providing education in Kanak language and culture has been the difficulty in meeting the need for teachers outside Nouméa. He welcomes the initiative that members of the New Caledonia Congress discussed with him to identify teachers who already know Kanak languages, rather than wait for language-specific training or certification for teachers. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur learned that France has a programme in place to promote greater inclusion of Kanak people in the teaching profession. 44. The Special Rapporteur was encouraged to hear that a congressional commission was to be convened in February 2011 to discuss the teaching of Kanak languages and culture,19 and hopes that this initiative will contribute concretely to achieving integration of Kanak languages and culture in school curricula. An interesting former initiative by Kanak people, which was created during the conflicts preceding the Matignon Accord, was the establishment of schools (écoles populaires kanak) that provided instruction in Kanak languages, as well as in French and English, and that incorporated training in traditional practices, such as yam cultivation, into the curricula. These schools are now closed, but Kanak chiefs have recommended that they be set up again.20 E. Maintaining and broadening awareness of Kanak culture and heritage 45. Building social cohesion, protecting the integrity of Kanak culture and ending discrimination against the Kanak people in New Caledonia call for increased understanding and valorization of Kanak culture by New Caledonian society in general. To this end, the Nouméa Accord (art. 4.4) transfers responsibility for the Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture (ADCK)21 to New Caledonia and commits France to provide technical assistance and the required funding for the Tjibaou Cultural Centre. Housed in an architecturally inspiring structure in Nouméa, the Centre advances the preservation, continuity and learning of Kanak culture. Additionally, in 2002, the “Accord particulier sur le développement culturel de la Nouvelle Calédonie”22 between New Caledonia and France established a regime to protect and promote Kanak cultural heritage. Under this Accord, France agreed to inventory Kanak cultural artifacts in museums and promote appropriate use or disposition of them, and to provide funding and technical support to assist ADCK in fulfilling its mandate of promoting Kanak culture. The Special Rapporteur learned about a loan program between museums in France and New Caledonia intended to maximize cultural and educational display or use of Kanak artifacts. 46. The Customary Senate communicated to the Special Rapporteur that it should have a leadership role in ADCK so that it could better work to ensure the appropriate return of artifacts to New Caledonia and the effective creation of the academy of Kanak languages. 23 The Customary Senate has also raised concerns regarding the need to secure rights over intellectual property and traditional knowledge.24 The Special Rapporteur read with interest a bill relating to the customary status of traditional knowledge and the protection of 19 20 21 22 23 24 14 Leonard Sam, Vice-President of New Caledonia Congress, at a meeting with the Special Rapporteur on 7 February 2011; Commission scheduled to be launched on 8 February 2011. Customary Senate, Report (see footnote 22). See also Organic law no. 99-209 (1999), art. 23. Accord particulier sur le développement culturel de la Nouvelle Calédonie (22 January 2002), available at http://www.paclii.org/oldpits/french/traites/2002/1.html. Customary Senate, Report (see footnote 22). Ibid.