Towards the cultural rights: from discourse to practice – international experience

Oleksandr Butsenko

Institute for Cultural Research Board of National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv
ORCID ID 0000-0001-6236-0907

DOI:

Keywords: cultural rights, human rights, economic and social rights, international law, cultural identity, public policy.

Abstract.

The paper reviews the gradual development of legal, strategic, program, and financial instruments and mechanisms for securing cultural rights at the local and national levels. It was the activity of scientific-research sector and civil society organizations in different countries that facilitated the transition from theoretical discourse and international legal instruments of a recommendatory nature to the real understanding of the basic principles underlying the cultural rights as an integral part of the general human rights and their practical implementation on local, regional and national level. The cultural rights become gradually an instrument of the public policy not only in the cultural sphere but also as a common base consolidating various sectors of social, economic, ecological and ethnic, gender and youth policies. This is promoted by the very nature of cultural rights, which are characterized by universality, indivisibility and interdependence, multidimensionality and complexity, accessibility and plurality. The cultural rights in the modern society are considered not as a final goal but as efficient factors and means of democratic development. 

Author‘s biography.

Oleksandr Butsenko, counsellor of the Institute for Cultural Research Board, National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv 

obutsenko@i.ua

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PDF (in Ukrainian)

The article was received by the editorial office on 10.06.2026.
The article was accepted for publication after review on 18.06.2026.
The article was published on 30.06.2026.

Vol 29 No 1 (2026)

Section: APPLIED CULTURAL STUDIES AND CULTURAL PRACTICES.