the headlines here are the heading off into the streets. to group calls on u.s. citizens to protest against supporters. of the new data gathering act. for the. spain's economic. unemployment figures. by the strong. ukraine's ex prime minister's tax evasion trial postponed until late may. fail to attend the hearing claiming she was. calling. time but for now continuing to multiculturalism and whether immigrants too often refuse to assimilate in their adopted countries spotlight is now.

on the money business of russia. how about here welcome to spotlight the confetti show party i'll bring our band then my guest is. shiny. and the auto world different cultures simply cannot live separately as we get the higher the speed of life the more peoples and

cultures to live migrate mix and conflict and there are societies suno all later pressed to choose how to manage cultural issues in many countries the multiculturalist concept has been adopted though some say it's has failed now what's the best way to cope with different cultures inside a single society and is it possible to avoid conflicts but preserve cultural unique we're asking the un special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. trashing. the idea of preserving ethnic groups distinctive cultures has long been a dominant political ideology boss societies but the different belief systems racism and misunderstandings cause conflicts from time to time preserving the uniqueness of individual cultures while minimizing the anger their collision brings

has become a burning issue the concept of multiculturalism was invented for that purpose but many people say it has failed and something new should be treated in its place. are welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us thank you well first of all as we talk about culture white civil rights here you are responsible for preserving cultural rights though they are not in the spotlight press attention. the political rights and social rights could you specify what basically are the cultural rights that we all are supposed to be entitled to thank you for inviting me and yes so much i think many people confuse the mandate of cultural rights with the preservation of culture. and i often train explained that my mandate is not to preserve culture even if that is my personal preference over my little painting

treasures but it's not about preserving them it is however about ensuring that the conditions are there for everyone to continuously create culture i do not believe for instance that culture is something which is that ache and fix for a time in fact i believe much of the country culture is something which is constantly evolving even if we don't see it evolve it really does it either reproduced on a daily basis or it's changed every day sometimes the change is sharp and sometimes it's not. a seed momente is really preserving and looking at work conditions allow everyone to participate in cultural life without any form of discrimination and participation in cultural is partly about accessing cultural. participating and also contributing well we'll talk about access to culture which is a very interesting issue but before we do that i have often been thinking about the

word culture in general and the most funny thing going to have ever heard was i once saw a mother on the streets of my home city in moscow who fall off the bench in a park and i was sleeping there drunk and when he caught my sight you see what i'm looking at so you look like this one who said this is my culture of drinking was he right. in a way he is up to people to define what their color is about and if you so you lose those. finishing of of universal culture is an old definition to me this is i do not see culture as reserved to what is normally called high culture which is like really. like the you know the wonderful paintings in my name and to try to me it's more than all of this and it's more than the every day way that we exchange with each other it's more than artifacts it's more than the way we dress and more than

the way we drink it is the whole way of living your life and that to me is all the different aspects of culture come together and speaking about addressing the speaking we're drinking i mean it's not about being cultural or not cultural it's about changing the culture we talk about we start so we must change our culture of dressing almost change a culture of drinking but both our culture i mean the french way the rational way you want like the pakistani way which is i mean which is not drinking that. night i think those are all part of how people define themselves and how the understand the environment in which they're living how they interact with it and how they interact with each other all of these to me so this is more a force offical question but a specific question about the access to culture which you actually work with access to culture it's more than like access to television access to internet access to

theater but it includes all of includes having access to a cultural event to the theater to a monument it includes all of that internet is increasingly important because so much of the information that we have i think ultra right really relate to many other great including the freedom of association expression information all of this comes together because in order to be able to express yourself and to recreate or change your culture you need to have access not only to your. culture but to everything that's going on i think that's very important judging by this definition of use would you say the russians. have an adequate access to culture i mean i mean we talk about mass taxes i think it really depends on which part of the country which part of the population we're talking about so while i think in general there's a lot of good initiatives to have

a lot of access to cultural events and to museums for instance through special provisions as well as other initiatives i think some people are more isolated and there is some people from minority communities some people who may be migrants some people who may be indigenous people or living in rural areas may have more difficulty accessing some of what we call cultural life in general so i think there are things that need to be addressed i think one of the issues that happened here from what i understand and what people say is that previously under the previous system of the soviet era a lot of culture was promoted through the state so a lot of cultural homes houses theater a ballet was supported by the state and that allowed a lot of people to who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to develop their creative expressions i think there's a concern that they maybe it's wonderful that you have private sector but with the

exception of culture. during the soviet times the so-called bush or our culture like like castle for example that was not considered or were or folini wasn't considered to be cultural cultural was not well well well well. i don't know why the culture of the indigenous people are like like handicrafts it was felt that i was good but it probably was a bridge we're. talking about indigenous and you were around you visited me quite a lot of time. this is in russia i want to ask you about the situation for example why you might have heard of eight people in all thai today they are protesting against the construction of a gas pipeline through a universe to protected territory in the old time around so what's your altitude towards the concern are they really fighting for culture or what do you do do you consider just to be just a political sort of happening you know i have to say that the people that i've met

because some people came i did not visit public but people came to meet me and i have to say that their concern is about preserving their whole way of life being able to continue to develop it and their concern is that they have not been consulted in this project and the decision has been taken which would impact the cultural site which i believe is also used for them is a sacred site so it's not it's not just that it's sort of religion is that it really is just a state and i think indigenous people we find this issue in many places where new developments are taken which then have impact on the environment and they are no longer able to continue with their practices and write rituals for their world vision's which are really quite different from ours but under threat so did you raise this question with the with the government officials or assure that humans yes i have to go in there also is there a possibility to find a compromise i hope there will be a possibility to find

a way of consultations that comes to a decision on what to do about the situation at the moment this is i've just completed a very hectic ten days i have shared some of the concerns and conveyed the concerns of in particular the indigenous peoples regarding the proposal to have this pipeline so there has been conveyed and i hope there can be discussion and i would recommend as i have to the government that they urgently undertake a consultative process is for seeing how to go. forward because i believe it's quite eminent. i think i only predict the outcome of your work in this respect will be that maybe the government will hold these consultations and it will try to explain to the illusionist people that the gas pipeline is more important than americans. and maybe the people will be happy with that but it depends i mean you know the people accept that this is something that

is needed or required of beneficial but to me really one of the key things about cultural rights is people's participation in decision making about their cultural heritage about what they think is important and not and so that the authorities really need to engage in this dialogue so i can't tell what the outcome of the dialogue is but to me the fact is if there is a dialogue that in itself is a step forward in the right direction do you think that maybe not in this case but in other cases such argument sounds like a cultural heritage or something may be used to blackmail the state to blackmail big companies it's possible but that has now come to my attention and i think i have however heard of considerable concern both and it's not just in indigenous peoples areas and remote areas st petersburg people were very concerned about proposals to build a house which i'm very happy has not been done in moscow a number of organizations are very concerned about large commercial investments

which may be tearing down various sides and buildings etc and they want to preserve what is their city for them that's important so funny dasha he'd actually proved in the field of cultural rights spotlight will be back shortly after the break so stay with us we'll continue this interview in less than a minute. to .

join me on a journey to the heart of the problem to a place is hidden from the tourists you're going to meet some real criminal insiders although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v. . looking. to defeat you.

walking back to spotlight i'm all good love and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is finally there share he the u.n. special reporter in the field of cultural writes this shahid this is your first visit to russia wrote to them. and that you've traveled quite extensively and even stood quite a number of places what was the quite to your area by which you chose the places which you would like to visit or the places were chosen by the un or maybe by the russians and the places that we visit since this is that the invitation of the government is also always something that is discussed between the myself as the special rapid and nothing you in both the government in question but you were free to chose well we talk about which places some places i was told was too difficult

we didn't call we didn't go to the north caucasus which i have security issues i had asked for the republic i went to i'd take a. stand was suggested by the government and of course same petersburg and moscow was a mutual agreement that this peace with two major cities. should be ways that it was a russian novel can be proud of the cultural right because of age i think it's actually a question for me of trying to see differences. like to visit urban centers but because that's one kind of place and one kinds of pressures come up but also rural areas people will have different ethnic. or linguistic identities and that is than was interesting in that respect and i'm glad i went there as well as that review board the differences are you met both government officials and representatives of the civil society. so is there a big difference in the way that the the civil society and the government assess

the situation with cultural rights and rush. i don't know because i didn't do an assessment of cultural rights we discuss specific issues which were in terms of language in terms of educational programs in terms of being able to enjoy a cultural heritage and access to this so i wouldn't have a comparison but when i was around long it was all more a compromise in some things a glorious actually unity of. perspective among some government officials and civil society because neither is the same i mean there is no uniform position among civil society or academics amongst the people for instance i think there is unity that perhaps there's a commonality of perspectives i should say that there is a need for the state to continue to have a role in promoting cultural events supporting cultural groups so that there is more space and openness while allowing for private sector to there is concern

amongst of course the different territories may have different perspectives on a policy so i think there is difference of opinion for instance in terms of the. basic. religious cult culture and secular ethics initiative. there is differences of opinion even amongst religious leaders about how this is to be tackled but at least some of them feel that this is not the best way to promote intercultural understanding and because they feel their children would be separate and number of parents express the same view there is as i said there's some commonalities but it is. speak about the differences between the big cities you visited like moscow comes around so if you look at the small cities small towns where would you say cultural right. i would guess that like access to theaters of course is better a little mosque and see if there is

a but the preservation of the cultural rights i would see is better than small cities because because in a small city it's up to you to preserve your cultural rights while most conservatives it's all about parking lots and gas stations i mean nobody cares about cultural rights. yeah i think what you're talking about was whether people care about their culture rather than their culture of rate right those responsible the most consoled of the government while in a small village is up to you and your neighbors to presume you know i don't think so i think i think the responsibility of the state remains and i think here you have different levels you have the municipalities the territories the republics you have different kinds of arrangements and then the federal but i think it depends where you're located what may be your most burning issue so for instance in the for the indigenous peoples in rural areas preserving their way of life may be their most important cultural trait in that stand it may be it ensuring that your

language continues to develop and be a living language and that you have textbooks and that you have sharing different perspectives on history which is very important for them given the composition of the interior religious marriage is the different kind of perspective and i have to say i think that's a very good idea that you have two views of history as a young man told me and i was very impressed he said well you know for one side it was a victory for the other side it was a tragedy but we learnt about both and i think that's a very good example of how you promote an understanding of both sides in allowed people to contribute you recalled the situation in the soviet union around in the past where the government cared about culture and the government cared about preserving people's culture which is true to very great extent but it's mostly. it was mostly about funding of course to get the government should be funding like.

commercial cultural events and so on but this is only about funding is funding the main thing that the state should do to preserve our cultural rights i think no there's certainly not for preserving culture of rights which i think is much wider then just cultural expressions which in terms of the performing arts in terms of the artist painting said i think the soviet period have a very particular as you yourself said view on which types of. what is not are not promoted but i think some of the things which i was very impressed by the theater that here in moscow of mimicking gesture which is something which has got there will always be a great indian soviet union in russia so this is an indian unity and it's good to see you know has never seen it myself but saw in france it's you know it's never seen the union you have seen anything more than the fact that they have the theater i think it was to me very impressive was how our security all of the people were in

terms of those i met who are members there are creative people there are it is their theater people they all had you know and i think that's the kind of thing which is to be very important and their inclusion in decision making about what the state should do so persons with disabilities of course i have a particular focus in my mentee i am asked to look also persons with disabilities the issues that arise there in genders so those are two things that i do look at here in this visit i have spent more time i guess looking at issues of persons and children with disabilities and their participation contribution then perhaps gender or the issue has come up also when you report something yes what. what. needs or what force do you have to to information actual. it's national governments to do whatever you think they should do i don't have any for years that i know love

is a process of a dialogue and of course the reporting is the fact that we hope that this is something which states will take responsibility for we point out the issues we have interactive dialogue that takes place you should be able to talk governments into doing the right thing we hope they're going to end quote oh ask. we also hope that the government's top three sather about this and therefore if we highlight the issues that we have seen that something can be done and of course then the reports are public so for me in many ways what we do is mandate holders is to highlight some of the issues make recommendations so that civil society academics and other people within the country as well as the government can look at these and take them forward a couple of specific questions that i would like to ask you well first of all there's talk in russia. religious classes or the ostrich genitives will be

introduced in schools what's your attitude to introducing classes in religion in society. wouldn't that be would that be discrimination what those small or small religions my understanding this is what i was talking about the basic this is the basic education in religious culture and secular ethics is that the it's not just my opinion the opinion of a number of people who are academics in this country and also government institutions in government bodies that animists bodies have concerns about this for one thing it gives you four major religions to my understanding and the other smaller religions world vision's etc are not included then you have the option of having a world vision and then you have secular ethics so you're dividing. the children into different groups and it doesn't allow for a coming together and cross cultural understanding across faiths understanding of

this so alternatives have been proposed and i think the government should be looking at those alternatives and for instance and then we were told that a number including the religious leaders of the area had put together an alternative which is ethics in world religions so it's brings a lot of the children together and for instance their suggestion i think is perfectly reasonable is their individual lessons on the particular of religion should take place as they have for many years in the institutions of their particular religious community and not necessarily within the state. for alternatives like i think i think there is a need to look at this because there's already such a thing like it's a widely advertised of the radio white jewish schools for kids jewish summer camp for kids which are sort of religious would you say this is the right the right way

to go no that wasn't what i was saying when i was saying is that if you want to have religious instruction those who would like to be part of that can have in their own communities and organize that's what they're interested you know in terms of camps in terms of interaction i think it's very important that he poor children and people adults as well have an opportunity to engage with each other that the only way we build understanding is not by seeing something at a distance but a personal relation and one of the things that was said to me in a different country. one of the rabbis was that interfaith dialogue. maybe what is needed is not so much interfaith dialogue between us who are people representing various religions but to increase the interaction between the communities. and so that space for bringing used to. regardless of other issues and not just religion i would say if this is a class language all of these things you need spaces that allow children and

youngsters and adults to engage with each other on the way we have to stand each other thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was pretty dasher i mean the one special reporter in the field of cultural right and that's it from there all from all of us if you want to have your sales spotlight or if someone involuntary you think are you going to do next aren't there drop me a line or a towel good old hat party t. darts are you and that's kids translates into the movie back with wolf comments on what's going on and outside russia and tell them to stay on our team and take.