Working Documents

Theme 1 - Integrating Cultural Diversity

The varying degree of commitment and understanding of cultural diversity emphasizes the need to look at the problem of managing it, especially in the context of the creation of an international instrument in this regard. Switzerland volunteered to further this thinking process by presenting the Swiss notion of cultural diversity, a notion of peace, peaceful coexistence and understanding between different cultural communities living in the same country, based on the search “of an intercultural dialogue and mutual comprehension” while considering the political approach towards the integration and management of cultural diversity in Switzerland (situation, adaptation and development).

Peaceful coexistence, the potential outcome of an effective integration and management of cultural diversity, seems to depend on a favorable economic context or manifestation of power, rather than on the results of intercultural dialogue. States should strive to go beyond the aim of peaceful coexistence and should seek to identify the benefits of multicultural interaction by promoting openness and intercultural dialogue that lead to cultural progress. The aim is to promote the richness of cultural diversity (as a general policy objective) at the national level (to enhance creativity and heritage), in order to eventually achieve internationa visibility and interact with other cultures in an international setting.

An analysis of national intercultural relations reveals the need to study the management of cultural diversity, to find how the issue has been tackled in other sectors, which have been compelled to change their institutions to improve their public services, in order to find new tools and instruments.

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