Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, A/67/287

The Report focuses on the enjoyment of cultural rights by women on an equal basis with men. The Special Rapporteur proposes that culture should be viewed, not as an obstacle to women’s rights, but one that seeks to ensure equal enjoyment of cultural rights. This approach will be instrumental in the realization of all their human rights. The right of women to have access to participate in and contribute to all aspects of cultural life is underscored. This would include the right of women to take part in the identification and interpretation of cultural heritage and to decide which cultural traditions, values or practices should be retained, reoriented, modified or discarded. There is a complex interplay between gender, culture and rights, and cultural rights that must be understood as also relating to who is empowered in the community to define its collective identity. Intra-community diversity makes it imperative to ensure that all voices within a community, including those that represent the interests, desires and perspectives of specific groups are heard without discrimination.