ICOM-SA declaration regarding the xenophobic, ethnic and criminal violence in South Africa

 

The Executive Board of the South African National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-SA)

 

embracing the values of the ICOM Strategic Plan: Our Global Vision 2008 - 2010: 

·     national and global dialogue based on intellectual, cultural and social diversity

·     transparent dialogue including the cross-cultural understanding of human rights

·     museums' social responsibility to engage with public issues of social change

 

affirming the aim of the ICOM-SA Strategic Plan: Our Local Vision 2008 - 2010:

·     museums can and must play an important role in our changing society, particularly in the national and global cultural cross-fertilisation of urban and rural environments.

 

affirming the RESOLUTIONS AS AMENDED & VOTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY of ICOM at the 22nd General Assembly of ICOM, Vienna, August 2007: 

·     Protection and Promotion of Universal Heritage with Respect for Cultural and Natural Diversity

·     the participation in programmes that demonstrate the contemporary value of historic rights issues such as the UNESCO -Slave Route Project, mediation and a culture of peace

 

supporting the Conventions, Declarations and Treaties of the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) to which ICOM and the South African government are party:  

·     UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948

·     UN Treaty/Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, 1967

·     UN Treaty/International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families of 1990

·     UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity of 2001

·     UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 2005

 

noting The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996:

·     Preamble: South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity 

·     Founding Provisions: Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms

·     Bill of Rights: a cornerstone of our democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom 

 

condemns the xenophobic, ethnic and criminal violence in South Africa and calls on the heritage and museum sectors, national and international, in terms of their mandate to engage with public issues of social change, to support efforts to address the root causes, avoidance and ending of such violence.

 

Professor HC Jatti Bredekamp (Chairperson), Dr Helene Vollgraaff (Secretary/Treasurer), Dr Jillian Carman, Rooksana Omar, Beverley Thomas, Dr Shahid Vawda.

29 May 2008





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