Madam Deputy Speaker, the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture requests Parliament in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution to approve the ultimate ratification of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
This convention was adopted by a majority vote at a Unesco general conference held in France on 20 October 2005. This convention invites us to enact a meaningful development of cultural capacity, a creative industry and a better balanced practice of global trade in cultural goods and services. This practice will see continuously sustained South African domestic production.
South Africa played a critical role in placing the convention on the Unesco agenda. The international co-operation section of the convention is the section that will determine the benefits that developing countries will derive from the ratification of this convention.
Article 8, and the whole convention for that matter, must be read in the spirit of understanding culture as not something imposed by governments, as some UN member states insinuate, and have thus refused to approve it, but a means by which member states can protect and defend our endangered heritage that has been plundered, historically, by colonialists.
You will understand that the states that refused to approve this convention were led by America, because America is opposed to shared resources. I must say, America would have led the pack in approving the convention had it been on human destruction.
Nearly everywhere indigenous languages are falling into disuse, traditions are being forgotten, and vulnerable cultures are being wiped out. Arts and culture the world over is seen as the banqueting arm of government. Because of that, and to save this situation, the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture requests this House to approve ratification of the convention so that South Africa can deposit its instrument of ratification with the depository. I thank you. [Applause.]
Are there any objections to the approval of the convention as it appears on the Order Paper? No objections. Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions approved.