Interlocking Codes of Ethics for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Spirit of the 2003 UNESCO Convention in Other Words

Marc Jacobs

http://www.google.be/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjXz7D_jbXJAhVF1RQKHUiZDpUQjRwIBw&url=http://www.quizz.biz/quizz-766199.html&psig=AFQjCNEfzWu24FtXjGhuiZ_OE1lbkt3GHQ&ust=1448868495228094

ITH/15/10.COM/15a• Ethical Principles for Safeguarding ICH :

core 2003 convention in other words• Safeguarding ICH• National / International: bridge Article 15 – Participation of communities, groups and individuals

Within the framework of its safeguarding activities of the intangible cultural heritage, each State Party shall endeavour to ensure the widest possible participation of communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals that create, maintain and transmit such heritage, and to involve them actively in its management “

& Prior & Informed Consent operational directives & forms

• Participatory approach (per country), many stakeholders and intermediaries

• Secretariat : Online Toolkit - > embedded in online platform?

• Platform to share, sensitize & encourage to develop own specific codes & tools

But also:

• Follow-up, feedback & updating • & mediation and dialogue?

There are important practical lessons to be drawn from the experiences of combining prior and informed consent and access and benefit sharing in the implementation of the Convention of Biodiversity (1992). E.g. that one should not think about filling out and signing “one form.

“Contrary to what is often imagined, bioprospecting partnerships rarely involve a single, framework agreement, and more often utilize an inter-locking web of agreements between the various involved parties. ABS agreements seldom involve a single, framework agreement but instead are characterized by an interlocking web of agreements between multiple parties which may or may not be divided into research and commercialization phases.”

SCHROEDER (D.), Informed Consent: From Medical Research to Traditional Knowledge, in: WYNBERG (R.) e.a., (eds.), Indigenous Peoples, Consent and Benefit Sharing: Lessons from the San-Hoodia Case, Heidelberg, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009, pp. 27-51, p. 27.

Advantages of using the web

• Interesting development in online platforms of publishing guidelines of codes of ethics: hyperlinking or interlocking

• E.g. http://ethics.aaanet.org/category/statement/ , with references to relevant sections in ethics codes of 12 other organizations:

• Ethical Code of the Public Historian: (NCPH Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct) “Recognizing that public historians practice in a variety of specialized professional fields, this code incorporates reference to other codes and guidelines as appropriate.(…) .

• http://ncph.org/about/governance-committees/

Ethical Principles for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, nr. 4

• All interactions with the communities, groups and individuals who create, safeguard, maintain and transmit intangible cultural heritage should be characterized by transparent collaboration, dialogue, negotiation and consultation, and contingent upon their free, prior, sustained and informed consent.

-> FOLLOW-UP, FEEDBACK, UPDATING…

Ethical Principles for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, nr. 7

• The communities, groups and individuals who create intangible cultural heritage should benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from such heritage, and particularly from its use, research, documentation, promotion or adaptation by members of the communities or others.

• SCHROEDER (D.), Justice and Benefit Sharing, in: WYNBERG (R.) e.a., (eds.), Indigenous Peoples, Consent and Benefit Sharing: Lessons from the San-Hoodia Case, Heidelberg, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009, pp. 11- 26

• Convention on Biological Diversity -> website of the convention ; tools, discussion

What can (accredited) NGO’s do?

• Share responsibility in managing and updating toolkit / information sharing platform / -> explicit invitation for accredited NGOs to participate?

• Dream: Committee for Safeguarding ICH Ethics • Own codes of ethics for ICH NGOs?

NGO: governance !

Code of Ethics for ICH-safeguarding NGOs?

• Own code of ethics -> embrace code of ethics of governance, in combination with other appropriate guidelines

• Share the information on the platform and communication about the Principles (and the 2003 Convention)

• A role in managing, evaluating and updating the toolbox -> online platform

• Collaborate in developing bridges : interlocking good practices: practical tools

The title should have been:

Interlocking Tools of Ethics for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Spirit of the 2003 UNESCO Convention in Other Words, in Appropriate Forms and in Action

+ FOLLOW-UP, FEEDBACK & UP-DATE