“Cultural diversity is as necessary for humanity as biodiversity is for nature”.
This statement, contained in the Universal Declaration of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recognizes cultural diversity as a common heritage of humanity and an inseparable principle from human rights, citizenship and fundamental human freedoms.
Based on this Declaration, the United Nations (UN) established the Cultural Diversity World Day for Dialogue and Development, celebrated today, May 21, with the objective of drawing attention to the importance of respecting and preserving cultural diversity, considered one of the fundamental elements for sustainable development and the maintenance of peace in the world.
Today is also an opportunity to celebrate the multiple forms of culture, such as dance, theater, music, literature, visual arts, crafts, among many others, manifested by different peoples throughout human history.
Richness of the culture of different indigenous peoples
The Indigenous Cultural and Training Centre (CCFI), coordinated by the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), supports and values the different artistic expressions and ways of life of the different indigenous ethnic groups from Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil, who live together daily in the place.
The CCFI coordinator, Ricardo Treno, explains that among the Centre’s lines of action is Integration and Cultural Expression, which enable the genuine manifestation, protection, strengthening and exchange of indigenous cultures from different peoples.
Among the lines of action of the CCFI is also the Continuing Education for Development, which seeks to encourage, through training, the social and economic insertion of indigenous migrants and refugees, in an integrated way with the preservation of their cultures.
“The work of this line of action includes holding indigenous intercultural fairs, sustainable harvests with environmental licensing of raw materials for making typical handicrafts, promoting indigenous traditional medicine workshops and exchanging knowledge and traditional handicraft techniques among different ethnic groups,” quotes Ricardo.
Creative economy
In addition to exercising citizenship and respecting and promoting human rights, cultural diversity is also an economic power capable of moving billions of dollars around the world and generating millions of jobs.
According to data from UNESCO, the cultural field represents 3.1% of the global Gross Domestic Product and 6.2% of the workforce.
The seventh edition of the Mapping of the Creative Industry in Brazil, carried out by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan-Rio) points out that, in 2020, the Creative Economy in Brazil moved about R$ 217 billion, with more than 935 thousand formally employed creative professionals.
In 2022, the sector generated 308,700 new jobs as compared to 2021. There were 7.4 million formal and informal jobs in the country, which is equivalent to 7% of all workers in the Brazilian economy.
This data points to the indisputable strength of the creative sectors throughout Brazil and underline the need to reinforce the potential of cultural diversity as a means of achieving prosperity and sustainable development.
Thus the importance of the creation of the Cultural Diversity World Day for Dialogue and Development, which offers us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to advance the four objectives of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which are:
- Support sustainable governance systems for culture;
- Achieve a balanced flow of cultural goods and services and increase the mobility of artists and cultural professionals;
- Integrating culture into sustainable development structures;
- Promote human rights and fundamental freedoms; and
- Strengthen cultural diversity.
Intercultural fairs
The intercultural fairs promoted by the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), through the CCFI, have become significant spaces for cultural presentations and development of reflections, with coexistence and exchanges between different Brazilian, Venezuelan and Guyanese ethnic groups and the external public.
The recognition of the affective, cultural, artistic and ecological value of indigenous products has made it possible for fairs to also become an attractive space for commercialization and, consequently, for generating income for all merchants, contributing to the achievement and expansion of their financial autonomy, thus revealing the economic importance of these events.
A culture of peace
According to UN data, at least three quarters of the main existing conflicts in the world are characterized by a cultural dimension.
In this sense, the means of Communication and Information Technologies can contribute immensely to a greater acceptance and recognition of cultural diversity as a common heritage and heritage of humanity. And they can also be a factor in promoting dialogue, respect and understanding between peoples and their different cultures.
In an increasingly globalized world, and at a time when hatred and intolerance are spreading, UNESCO defends “the urgency of creating more bridges between cultures in favor of peace, stability and development. And that we should not only defend diversity, but invest in it”.
In today’s world, defined as a “global village”, societies are multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural, and this, according to UNESCO, should be considered an asset and not a threat. But for that to happen, “we need to ensure that each community feels that its identity – its culture – is being respected,” points out the UN Organization.
To overcome the challenge of living together and in unity, in a diverse society, the humanitarian actor, Imer, cites the example of the different indigenous peoples served by the Indigenous Cultural and Training Centre, who have a greater awareness that unites them,“ because even speaking different languages and coming from different regions, they perceive themselves as a single nation and are proud of that, of being indigenous and of being able to express themselves as they are.”
