I am at risk

Action Plan for the
Safety of Artists

Artists around the world are increasingly being subjected to threats, harassment, and persecution amid a rising wave of authoritarianism, erosion of democratic norms, and the increasing use of invasive and omnipresent surveillance technologies. Artistic freedom and artist safety require protection from attacks and repression by both State and non-State actors, and support from a range of stakeholders, including governments, intergovernmental and regional bodies, civil society organizations, and arts and cultural institutions.

In March 2024, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, as part of its work plan for 2024-2025, took the decision to:

Protect the diversity of cultural expressions in emergency  situations, including through support for artists, by, inter alia, systematising the lessons learned and undertaking advocacy actions to stress the need to protect artists in emergency situations, as part of the continued work to promote the status of the artist and artistic freedom globally.

In April 2024, ARC took a leading role in this effort by co-organizing the high-level event Defending Creative Voices: Protection of Artists in Times of Emergencies at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Co-hosted with UNESCO and the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations under the UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals, this event marked a major milestone in advancing the global agenda for the protection of artists, bringing together governments, U.N. representatives, and cultural organizations to confront the escalating threats faced by artists in conflict and crisis contexts and to explore pathways toward coordinated international action.

More recently, in June 2025, exchanges with UNESCO’s Secretariat of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions have further underscored the timeliness of this effort. Resolution 10. CP 13 (para. 3.iv.), adopted by the Conference of Parties to the 2005 Convention, calls on the Intergovernmental Committee to consider, as part of its 2026–2027 strategic orientations, measures to: 

Enhance international cooperation to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions, including in emergency situations, and to establish a comprehensive and strategic reflection process on cultural expressions in emergency contexts. This represents a critical opening within the UN system to anchor artist protection as a global cultural policy priority.

Since 2018, ARC has played a leading role in advancing civil society calls for a legal framework that recognizes the role artists play in society and ensures their right to due protection under the umbrella of international law. Inspired by the U.N. Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, ARC, along with a coalition of artists and local, regional and global civil society organizations, are calling for the drafting and adoption of a U.N. Action Plan for the Safety of Artists and the Promotion of Free Artistic and Cultural Expression. Achieving an Action Plan for Artists will not only establish a normative framework and policy in support of at-risk artists, but will also practically mobilize more resources for their protection and resilience.

The path forward is clear. Civil society must seize this moment by uniting artist-led organizations, NGOs working on protection, and arts and cultural institutions around a shared framework, while simultaneously building sustained political will among Member States. A durable global protection mechanism for artists can only be achieved through the combined force of grassroots mobilization and intergovernmental engagement.

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