After a Lull, Renewed Momentum on Ratification
A recent increase in the rate of ratifications being deposited with UNESCO gives reason to hope that the marked slowdown during the period between November 2007 and April of this year was not an enduring phenomenon.
After the Convention on the diversity of cultural expressions was adopted in October of 2005, the ratification campaign got underway with remarkable speed. By December of 2006, the minimum number of 30 ratifications required for the Convention to enter into effect had been easily surpassed—and by its entry into force on March 17 of 2007 the number had risen to 56 States. The remarkable pace prompted UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura to state that it was “an absolute record for a normative instrument on culture.”
But by the time of the inaugural Intergovernmental Committee meeting in Ottawa last December the rate had slowed considerably.
In the months of November and December, just three States deposited their ratifications with UNESCO, and in the four-month period from January to April, only three more did so.
So it was encouraging that on the eve of the extraordinary session of the Intergovernmental Committee several new ratifications appeared on the UNESCO website—first Argentina, Hungary and Zimbabwe, followed shortly after by Chad, Sudan, Seychelles, Montenegro, Georgia and Switzerland.
As a result, the total number of States having ratified has now risen to 90, and with another ratification push consisting of States striving to file by next March—in time to be eligible for the second Conference of Parties next June—it is entirely possible that the total number will have surpassed 100 by next spring.
The challenge of achieving regional balance remains. While India and China have ratified, relatively few Asian countries have so far done so. The situation is similar in the Arab world (although there are indications that Morocco may soon join Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Tunisia in having done so). The same holds true for English-speaking Africa, and the Caribbean.
