21st May: World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

Held every year on 21 May, the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development celebrates not only the richness of the world’s cultures but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue in achieving peace and sustainable development.

The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is an occasion to promote culture and highlight the significance of its diversity as an agent of inclusion and positive change. It represents an opportunity to celebrate culture’s manifold forms, from the tangible and intangible, to creative industries, to the diversity of cultural expressions, and to reflect on how these contribute to dialogue, mutual understanding, and the social, environmental, and economic vectors of sustainable development.

The day provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to advance the four goals of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions adopted on 20 October 2005:

• Support sustainable systems of governance for culture
• Achieve a balanced flow of cultural goods and services and increase the mobility of artists and cultural professionals
• Integrate culture in sustainable development frameworks
• Promote human rights and fundamental freedoms