I am pleased to welcome senior government and non-governmental representatives to this important meeting on culture and sustainable development.
Since last year’s meeting, Member States have made considerable progress in the negotiations on the post-2015 sustainable development goals. They have achieved tentative agreement on 17 SDGs. This carefully balanced consensus seems to be holding firm.
I commend the Member States for this important progress. You are forging a vision for sustainable development that represents our shared values and aspirations.
The SDGs reflect the essence and power of combined experiences and shared values. They demonstrate the potential of universal mobilisation around a new, transformative development agenda.
The value of culture as a positive force for development is quite rightly built into the proposed new goals. Culture appears in SDG 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education. Target 4.7 calls for the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity. It also deals with culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
NGOs and civil society groups have worked tirelessly over the years to prove and advocate for the value of culture in development. I commend them for helping to foster a culture of peace, promoting respect for culture as a unifying force among nations and peoples. I count on them to help us realize even greater advances under the new development agenda.
The critical value of culture is obvious when we see how it is being used as a dividing force, even as a weapon, in conflict and war.
Violent extremists are targeting cultural sites in an attempt to rob people of their history and deny them a basis from which to face the future.
Extremists are targeting schools, media, cultural sites and museums as part of their campaign against freedom of thought and cultural diversity.
The United Nations strongly condemns these abhorrent acts. We reaffirm our commitment to protecting cultural heritage as the commonwealth of humanity. I commend UNESCO for its principled and determined efforts to stop the destruction of our cultural heritage.
I am fortunate to be one of many people who benefited from an international educational exchange when I was young. I am sure many of us have experienced the value of interacting with young people from other nations and cultures. This generates understanding not only about the differences in how people live but also how fundamentally alike we all are – and how our future and our fates are connected.
Cultural exchanges can help overcome distorted views of “The Other”. Such exchanges can contribute to helping realize the aspiration embodied in SDG 16 of building “peaceful and inclusive societies.”
The United Nations has long promoted culture in our quest for peace.
Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was a great lover of the arts. In the 1950s he began the wonderful tradition of holding concerts in the General Assembly Hall. Since then, we have artists from around the world using their talents and fame to raise awareness about United Nations causes.
Although you cannot put a price on the value of culture, it definitely has social and economic consequences. Figures released by UNCTAD in 2013 demonstrated that the creative economy has become an even stronger driver of development than before. The world trade in creative goods and services was estimated to reach a record value of US$624 billion in 2011.
Globalization has enabled people to share culture far and wide. But it also threatens cultural diversity through homogenization of expectations and behaviour.
We can see this phenomenon also in patterns of cultural consumption.
At the same time, in the age of social media, we should use the new tools of communication to affirm cultural diversity in innovative and sustainable ways.
Our challenge and mission must be to foster diversity, inclusivity and mutual understanding.
We can draw inspiration from the far-sighted vision of The Future We Want, the outcome document of the Rio +20 conference. Its many references to culture helped to bring this issue into the mainstream of international action for sustainable development.
ECOSOC has also recognized culture as an essential component of sustainable development, serving as a source of identity, innovation and creativity.
The Member States of ECOSOC have rightly seen culture as an important factor in building social inclusion and in providing for economic growth and national ownership of development processes.
And, of course, the United Nations system has a vitally important cultural entity, UNESCO, which celebrates and promotes the rich diversity of its Membership.
But to succeed, the new sustainable development agenda cannot remain the exclusive domain of institutions and Governments. It must be embraced by civil society, media, the academic and artistic world – and by the people.
Culture, in different forms and aspects, can and should be an important force in supporting our vision of a life of dignity for all.
Thank you.