Cultural Rights in International Human Rights Law: From Controversy to Celebration

The year 2019 marks an important celebration for cultural rights. Ten years ago the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution establishing the mandate of an Independent Expert in the field of Cultural Rights. The mandate was originally established for three years, but it was since extended and in 2012 the title of the mandate was changed into Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights.
It is also ten years ago that the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the independent body monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted a General Comment on one of the most prominent cultural rights in international human rights law: the right to take part in cultural life. With this General Comment the Committee gave guidance to States parties on how to respect, protect and fulfil this right.
The fact that these developments happened ten years ago might create the impression that cultural rights are by now a fully accepted, understood and respected group of human rights. The fact that there is more attention for cultural rights should however not obscure the fact that there is continuous debate about the place of cultural rights in the human rights discourse, as well as about their scope, meaning and (lack of) implementation. This article aims to provide a concise overview of the development and different aspects of cultural rights in international human rights law, addressing inter alia the significance of cultural rights, the definition of cultural rights, the link between cultural rights and other human rights, as well as limitations of cultural rights. This article is restricted to international human rights law and focuses on the UN instruments and their interpretation by their monitoring mechanisms. Other UN documents and academic literature is also referred to.