A/HRC/37/55/Add.1
VI. Conclusions and recommendations
A.
Conclusions
97.
Implementation of both international and domestic standards guaranteeing cultural
rights, without discrimination, must be accelerated in Serbia and Kosovo, the emphasis
being on realization in practice rather than window dressing for international consumption.
The present recommendations should be viewed as a whole, rather than taking any
particular recommendation out of the context of the entire package.
98.
There is an urgent need to avoid repetition of earlier patterns and acts of cultural
heritage destruction. The damage to human beings done by such crimes is sometimes even
harder to repair than the damage to sites. Such acts are grave obstacles to reconciliation and
gross violations of cultural rights. Prevention is critical, and when that fails, accountability
and reparation are essential.
99.
Cultural rights must be ensured for all in Serbia and Kosovo, without discrimination
and without making these rights a political football. The denial of cultural rights is not a
legitimate response to past abuses by others, nor is it a legitimate means of negotiating. It
can only make the dreams of lasting peace and prosperity harder to realize. Cultural rights
and cultural democracies must be achieved, without delay and without discrimination, for
all who live in Serbia and Kosovo. The lessons of the past must be learned so as to achieve
the promise of the future.
B.
1.
Recommendations
Recommendations to the Government of Serbia, the Kosovo authorities, and other
stakeholders
100.
These actors should:
(a)
Recognize cultural rights, cultural heritage and culture as core, nonoptional sectors and ensure that they receive the greatest possible funding;
(b)
Cooperate at all levels of authority, including at the level of
municipalities, to implement national and international standards and
recommendations on cultural rights and cultural heritage protection;
(c)
Combat discrimination, including against women, minorities, Roma and
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, in the field of cultural rights; improve
the enjoyment of cultural rights by persons with disabilities, including through
support of accessible arts and improved access to heritage sites;
(d)
Respect and ensure the rights of cultural rights defenders, including
through awareness-raising campaigns explaining the legitimacy of defending cultural
rights, and fully implement the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of
Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally
Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Declaration on Human
Rights Defenders). End impunity for attacks and incitement, by both private and
public actors, against cultural rights defenders by investigating all allegations of such
conduct and bringing perpetrators to justice;
(e)
Combat diverse forms of fundamentalism and extremism, including
ultranationalism, and take effective action in accordance with international standards
to protect the cultural rights of all from the harmful effects of such ideologies;
(f)
Promote the voices of tolerance, present across Serbia and Kosovo, and
guard against voices of intolerance.; Insist on the right of all to express freely their
complex identities, to manifest their own cultural practices and to have access to and
enjoy their own cultural heritage and that of others, in accordance with international
standards;
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