Right to science and culture

The right to science and culture is one of the economic, social and cultural rights claimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related documents of international human rights law. It recognizes that everyone has a right to participate in culture, to benefit from science and technology, and to protection of authorship.

Recognition under international law

The right to science and culture is expressed in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

”

The right to science and culture also appears in Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

“

(1) The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone:

(a) To take part in cultural life;

(b) To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications;

(c) To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

(2) The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture.

(3) The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.

(4) The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.

”

Related concepts and disambiguation

The right to science and culture is often referred to separately as "the right to take part in cultural life" "or the right to cultural participation" or "the right to culture," and "the right to benefit from scientific progress and its applications" or "the right to benefit from science" or "the right to science."

The term "cultural rights" may be used in at least three senses. It is most often used to refer to the concept protected by Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which assures minority groups the right to practice and preserve their languages, religions, art forms, and ways of life. Alternatively, the term "cultural rights" may be used to group both minority rights and the right to science and culture, which have a common origin in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration. Even more broadly, "cultural rights" may be used to refer to a larger category of economic, social and cultural rights, which may be understood to refer to the right to science and culture as well as the right to education.

Scholarly interpretation and advocacy

All human rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights require a process of interpretation to translate the broad principles into specific state obligations. This takes place through United Nations processes and in national courts. The process is strongly influenced by human rights scholars and human rights activists.

The right to science and culture remains at a relatively early stage in this process, in contrast to other human rights such as the right to health or the right to education that have already been the subject of more extensive elaboration and litigation.^[1]

Some authors particularly active in this area include: Samantha Besson, Audrey R. Chapman, Yvonne Donders, Laurence Helfer, Lea Shaver, William Schabas, Jessica Wyndham, and Peter Yu.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is active in advocacy around the right to science and culture, with a particular focus on the rights and responsibilities of professional scientists.^[2]

Official interpretations

The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights has issued two General Comments interpreting portions of the right to science and culture. General Comment 17 and General Comment 21. The Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Farida Shaheed, addressed the right to science and culture in several reports between 2010 and 2015.^[3]

Access to public domain works

Main article: Public domain

Thousands of works (books, pictures, music and films) in every country belong to the public domain and is a duty of every culture minister of every state to digitize, preserve and make them available and accessible public domain works for every citizen, since there are not restrictions or copyrights on them, and all these works belong to public domain in order to make more egalitarian access to culture in every country no matter the social status of the citizens.^[4]^[5]

In 1971 Michael S. Hart started Project Gutenberg to digitize and preserve books on public domain first on Arpanet and after it on Internet. In 1996 Internet Archive was created by Brewster Kahle, a website to preserve books, audio, films and even websites. On January 2001 Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched wikipedia and in 2003 was launched wikisource. On 2005 Hugh McGuire launched LibriVox, a website created to record share of public domain books.

With time and new tools and technologies other projects where funded on websites like kickstarter, in 2005 Aaron Dunn created Musopen Project that aims to "set music free" by providing music to the public free of charge, without copyright restrictions. In May 2012 was released Open Goldberg Variations, a project created by Robert Douglas and interpreted by his wife Kimiko Douglas.

There are many countries and even continents that have done steps to meet this rights, one of them is European Union that in 2008 launched its online library Europeana.

Relationship to intellectual property

In 2000 the United Nations Economic and Social Council Sub-commission on Human Rights suggested that the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights may violate the right to science and therefore conflict with international human rights law.^[6]

References

↑ Shaver, Lea Bishop (March 6, 2009). "The Right to Science and Culture". Wisconsin Law Review: 126–127. SSRN 1354788.
↑ http://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-report-helps-define-right-science-un-treaty
↑ http://allafrica.com/stories/201310111443.html?viewall=1
↑ http://dl.psnc.pl/2010/07/30/european-libraries-and-google-cooperate-in-digitization/
↑ http://www.communia-association.org/2015/12/05/public-domain-on-trial-in-mannheims-reiss-engelhorn-museum-vs-wikimedia-et-al/
↑ Suoranta, Juha; Vadén, Tere (June 2009). Wikiworld. Pluto Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780745328928.

Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

General principles

Article 1: Freedom, Egalitarianism, Dignity and Brotherhood Article 2: Universality of rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Articles 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination
Article 3: Right to life, liberty and security of person
Article 4: Freedom from slavery
Article 5: Freedom from torture or cruel and unusual punishment
Article 6: Right to personhood
Article 7: Equality before the law
Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law
Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
Article 10: Right to a fair trial
Article 11.1: Presumption of innocence
Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law
Article 12: Right to privacy
Article 13.1: Freedom of movement
Article 13.2: Right of return
Article 14: Right of asylum
Article 15: Right to a nationality
Article 16: Right to marriage and family life
Article 17: Right to property
Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression and information
Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly
Article 20.2: Freedom of association
Article 21.1: Right to participation in government
Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office
Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Article 22: Right to social security
Article 23.1: Right to work
Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work
Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration
Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union
Article 24: Right to rest and leisure
Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living
Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children
Article 26.1: Right to education
Article 26.2: Human rights education
Article 26.3: Right to choice of education
Article 27: Right to science and culture

Context, limitations and duties

Article 28: Social order Article 29.1: Social responsibility Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations

Article 30:	Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Human rights category
Human rights portal

Substantive human rights

Note: What is considered a human right is controversial and not all the topics listed are universally accepted as human rights.

Civil and political	Equality before the law Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention Freedom of assembly Freedom of association Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment Freedom from discrimination Freedom from exile Freedom of information Freedom of movement Freedom of religion Freedom from slavery Freedom of speech Freedom of thought Freedom from torture Legal aid Liberty LGBT rights Nationality Personhood Presumption of innocence Right of asylum Right to die Right to a fair trial Right to family life Right to keep and bear arms Right to life Right to petition Right to privacy Right to protest Right to refuse medical treatment Right of self-defense Security of person Universal suffrage

Economic, social and cultural	Digital rights Equal pay for equal work Fair remuneration Labor rights Right to an adequate standard of living Right to clothing Right to development Right to education Right to food Right to health Right to housing Right to Internet access Right to property Right to public participation Right of reply Right of return Right to science and culture Right to social security Right to water Right to work Trade union membership

Sexual and reproductive	Abortion Family planning Freedom from involuntary female genital mutilation Intersex human rights LGBT rights Reproductive health Right to sexuality

Violations	Corporal punishment

War and conflict	Civilian Combatant Freedom from genocide Prisoner of war War rape

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