Today we are celebrating the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. Held every 21 May, this day celebrates not only the richness of the world’s cultures, but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development.
The United Nations General Assembly first declared this World Day in 2002, after UNESCO adopted the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. This Declaration recognises the need to “enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence.”
In 2015 following the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations further adopted the Culture and Sustainable Development Resolution, emphasising “the need to enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence.”
This year Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay noted:
In the words of former United Nations Secretary-General Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, “cultures need to assemble, but not to resemble one another”. These words encapsulate the fundamental aim of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development and the UNESCO culture conventions alike – to remind us that diversity is just as essential for the cultural world as it is for the living world.
Read the UNESCO Director-General’s Message through the UNESCO website