FOREWORD Many cultural professionals, decisionmakers, authorities, activists, and citizens in the European Eastern Neighbourhood Countries (ENCs), Denmark and the wider world, lack basic knowledge on cultural rights. Against this background, the Danish Cultural Institute has therefore launched this “Cultural Rights Manual”: to clarify what cultural rights are, and how they can be used through a cultural rights-based approach (CRBA). The manual is written specifically for the context of the programme New Democracy Fund1 and for inspiration and practical use by ENC cultural partners. Their feedback and examples have been very important in its making. As cultural rights are part of our universal human rights, the manual also has wider relevance. Using cultural rights through a CRBA is part of the human rights-based approach (HRBA). The HRBA has been defined by the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHR)2, and is stated to have two objectives: • To empower rights-holders to claim and exercise their rights; • To strengthen capacity of duty-bearers who have the obligation to respect, protect, promote, and fulfil human rights. The CRBA can be defined as having the same overall objectives as the HRBA, though it specifically addresses cultural rights-holders and cultural duty-bearers. Cultural rightsholders include artists and cultural actors; individuals enjoying arts, culture and science; cultural CSOs; and other social groups that all have particular entitlements in relation to duty-bearers. Cultural rights duty-bearers include authorities at state levels relevant to culture, as well as non-state actors who have authority. These duty-bearers have the obligation to respect, protect, promote, and fulfil the cultural rights of rights-holders. The HRBA as well as the CRBA are underpinned by five key human rights principles, also known as PANEL: Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination and Equality, Empowerment, and Legality. The CRBA applies these principles and relates them to specific cultural rights. Typically, cultural actors will also additionally refer to the principle of Diversity, with an implied reference to the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the “Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”. 1 https://www.newdemocracyfund.org/ 2 https://ennhri.org/about-nhris/human-rights-based-approach/ 4