14th session, Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on cultural and creative industries. Around the world, lockdown measures have significantly affected the livelihoods of artists and cultural professionals, while reducing cultural production and access to a diverse range of cultural expressions. In this context, and in that of the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly, the Committee will consider major issues related to the Convention that have been brought to the forefront by the COVID-19 pandemic: the status of artists and cultural professionals, the protection of the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment and preferential treatment for cultural goods and services. The Committee will also consider new funding requests submitted to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity in the framework of its 11th call for applications, and reflect on the current and future functioning of this fundamental mechanism to implement the Convention. The fourteenth session of the Committee will also examine a preliminary analysis of the conclusions of the ResiliArt movement, launched by UNESCO on 15 April 2020 to sound the alarm on the impact of the global health crisis on the cultural and creative sector, and now embraced by more than 100 countries from all regions of the world.