Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ARC interviewed Karima Bennoune, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, and asked her why this historic document matters for artists and supporters of freedom of expression. December 10, 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, which is one of the first international treaties to recognize the right to free creative expression.

The United Nations’ Human Rights Council created the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights in 2009. Karima Bennoune, appointed in 2015, reports to the UN on the global state of artistic freedom, the protection of cultural rights, and attacks on human rights. She is a professor at the University of California-Davis School of Law, has published research and writing on cultural rights issues, worked with governmental and non-governmental human rights organizations, and carried out field missions and trial observations in many regions of the world.