World day for cultural diversity, dialogue and development

The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, takes place annually on 21 May  it was created in 2002 to protect the world’s cultural diversity  from globalisation, to promote diversity and intercultural dialogue, to learn about other cultures, to share own culture with other people and to enshrine the value of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. Since 2011, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) has run the “Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion” campaign, in partnership with UNESCO and other public and private organisations to bring together specialists from many areas of culture as well as representatives of government and non-governmentagencies. cultural diversity was previously understood in terms of the preservation of established cultural material, the new interpretation emphasises an ongoing process of interaction and dialogue based on  the understanding that cultures are not monolithic but interdependent, resulting from mutual exchanges and borrowings”. 

In 2018 the German Commission for UNESCO and the Bertelsmann Foundation used the day to promote a report arguing that a diverse cultural sector promotes harmonious living in a diverse society. It recommended that cultural institutions and public bodies extend their support for art from diverse cultures and remove barriers to participation for immigrant artists and performers. The observance day is regularly celebrated in Botswana with national and tribal ceremonies and artistic events. This has helped to raise awareness of the Batlokwa minority ethnic culture, and enabled observers to document and preserve this culture. The organisation Pink Armeniacommemorated the day in 2012 with a diversity parade showing posters of Armenia’s ethnic minorities. In 2022 events took place in Cameroon’s national museum and at Mankono in the Ivory Coast. UNESCO hosted an international conference on public art in 2011 leading up to the observance day, while celebrations also took place at the UNESCO regional office in Cuba. commemorate the day in 2022, UNESCO headquarters brought representatives of 38 signatories of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions together, for a keynote speech by Sir David Khalili, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Khalili’s charity, the Khalili Foundation, runs, in partnership with UNESCO, a World Festival of Cultural Diversity culminating in the World Day for Cultural Diversity