A/HRC/52/35 only.15 In any case, even strong legislative frameworks are not adequate to ensure respect for cultural rights. For example, notwithstanding their recognition in legislation, in November 2022 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted the violation of the cultural rights of migrants in Bahrain and specifically asked for special measures to be taken to address it.16 IV. Migrants’ access to cultural services and institutions 19. Cultural rights recognize the right of migrants to access the cultural life, resources and services of the society they live in, as well as their own cultural resources and frameworks. Public cultural services and institutions often do not fully cater for the needs of migrants.17 Reassurances by States that migrants have the same rights as the other residents of the country concerned do not really address the issues, as migrants face additional obstacles in accessing cultural services and institutions. 20. The Special Rapporteur has heard that State administrations in the cultural sector are not familiar with issues of cultural diversity and continue to favour “high arts” rather than inclusive cultural events. There is a lack of understanding concerning the cultural needs of migrants and outreach efforts are often insufficient. Language and cultural barriers, a lack of solid orientation regarding the sector for the newcomers and legal barriers for undocumented migrants may all have a negative impact and impede, directly and indirectly, migrants’ effective access to and participation in cultural life. 21. Museums, galleries and bookshops are important cultural institutions, often publicly funded. Exhibits that relate to the cultures of migrants are often underrepresented, as are migrants in such institutions, even when they form a substantial percentage of the population of a country. A positive example is the cultural programme that the Museum of Islamic Art has developed in Qatar for Afghan refugee families. By facilitating art workshops, lectures and movie screenings in several languages, including Farsi, English, Arabic and Urdu, the programme empowers refugees to tell their stories through creative means of expression. The 2021 “Safar” exhibition displayed the history and culture of Afghanistan and highlighted the experiences and stories of Afghan refugees.18 22. It is important that cultural professionals and practitioners and the cultural sector in general ask themselves how they will become more open to migrant art, more accessible to migrants and employ more migrants. Securing the cultural rights of migrants opens further the imagination and aspirations of the society in which they exist. Training on cultural diversity and intersectionality is important. Migration often brings poverty, alienation and powerlessness, and cultural institutions often intimidate migrants who already feel alienated from the host society. Migrants must be given the opportunities and the tools to enable their voices, visions and aspirations to be included in the bastions of national arts that cultural institutions represent, and these need to adopt a more inclusive understanding of the arts. 23. Employing migrant personnel is essential. In some places, museums have started creating positions of diversity staff, responsible for increasing awareness and the representation of diversity in the museum. However, cultural diversity must not be the task of one specific agent but must run through all activities by all staff in the sector at all levels. Anonymous recruitment processes for employment may be a way to overcome unconscious bias with respect to migrants. Exhibitions in museums focused on foreign exhibits often remain closed to the migrants who come from those same countries and are blind to their interpretation of the objects. It is rather regrettable to see exhibitions on past colonialism narrated by the colonizers and not by the migrants who suffered under colonialism. 24. Specific sectors of migrant communities face additional challenges to accessing cultural life: for asylum seekers who receive in some countries a residence permit that 15 16 17 18 6 See, for example, Ministry of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Ireland, “Culture 2025. Éire ildánach. A framework policy to 2025” (July 2016). CERD/C/BHR/CO/8-14, para. 11. See submission by ARTconnects. See submission by Qatar. GE.23-01011