Towards a Right to Cultural Identity? Yes, Indeed!

Abstract

In 2002 I presented my PhD research in the book Towards a Right to Cultural Identity? in which I examined to what extent a right to cultural identity should be further developed as a separate right within the framework of international human rights law. Perhaps rather uncommon for a human rights project, the conclusion was that although the protection of cultural identity as an important value and element of human dignity would fit into the human rights sphere, translating cultural identity into a separate right is neither desirable nor necessary. More than 15 years later, much has happened in relation to this question and conclusion. Academics, experts and States have further elaborated cultural rights and developed the cultural dimension of human rights. There is also new caselaw by international and regional bodies involving a right to cultural identity. Cultural identity is increasingly seen also as a more self-standing or substantive right to be enjoyed by individuals and by communities and the collective subject of the right to cultural identity is increasingly recognized. And interesting new developments in several standards and in the work of supervisory bodies have taken place relating to the issue that a right to cultural identity could be misused to justify questionable cultural practices. This article discussed several crucial normative and interpretative developments related to a right to cultural identity, testing some of my conclusions of more than 15 years ago. A selection was made of instruments and caselaw adopted after 2002 in which a right to cultural identity was explicitly or noticeably discussed. This compilation shows that I may have found that translating cultural identity into a separate right was neither desirable nor necessary, but that it is, at least to some extent, actually happening.