UNESCO’s 2015 Recommendation on Museums and Collections UNESCO’s first and, until 2015, the sole international instrument dedicated to museums was the Recommendation Concerning the Most Effective Means of
Rendering Museums Accessible to Everyone, approved on 14 December 1960
(UNESCO, 1960). It was an important Recommendation, aimed to ensure greater access to museums by all kinds of public. However, in the following 55
years the museum world has undergone a deep transformation, and nowadays museums have a much more prominent role in society and have developed new functions and social roles. UNESCO’s Recommendation concerning the
Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role was adopted on 17 November 2015 (UNESCO, 2015). Its draft was
the remarkable result of the close cooperation between ICOM and UNESCO. The 2015 Recommendation defines the policies for museums and heritage that Member States are invited to promote. It raises awareness of the importance of museums in today’s societies and highlights their new social role as well as their primary functions: preservation, research, communication and educa- tion. It also considers ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums, its museum defi- nition and its standards to be the most widely shared international reference. Paragraph 4 of the UNESCO Recommendation includes the definition of mu- seum given by the ICOM Code of Ethics:
“4. In this Recommendation, the term museum is defined as a ‘non-pro- fit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communi- cates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purpose of education, study and enjoy- ment’. As such, museums are institutions that seek to represent the na- tural and cultural diversity of humanity, playing an essential role in the protection, preservation and transmission of heritage.” (UNESCO,
2015).
Note ii of the Recommendation highlights that ‘This definition is the one given by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), which brings together, at an international level, the museum phenomenon in all of its diversity and trans- formations through time and space. This definition describes a museum as a public or private non-profit agency or institution’.
Paragraph 26 of the Recommendation deems the ICOM Code to be the most widely shared reference text regarding good practices for the management of museums, and encourages Member States to promote its adoption and dis- semination and its use to develop standards, museum policies and national legislation:
“26. Good practices for the functioning, protection and promotion of museums and their diversity and role in society have been recognized by national and international museum networks. These good prac- tices are continually updated to reflect innovations in the field. In this respect, the Code of Ethics for Museums adopted by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) constitutes the most widely shared refe- rence. Member States are encouraged to promote the adoption and dissemination of these and other codes of ethics and good practices
and to use them to inform the development of standards, museum po- licies and national legislation.” (UNESCO, 2015).
From 10 to 12 November 2016, the inaugural session of UNESCO’s High Level
Forum on Museums took place in Shenzhen, China.1 The High Level Forum
is an advisory body to the UNESCO Director General on issues of museums and heritage, and it was created in order to implement the 2015 UNESCO Re- commendation on museums. The UNESCO Forum approved the Shenzhen
Declaration on Museums and Collections (UNESCO, 2016). The Declaration
confirms the social, cultural, educational and economic roles of museums, and invites UNESCO Member States to integrate the Recommendation in their legislation and in local and national policies. It also encourages UNESCO to strengthen the cooperation with ICOM and the reference to its Code of Ethics and principal documents.
The 2017 Meeting of the Ministers of Culture of the G7 in Florence On 30 and 31 March 2017, under the G7 Italian Presidency, Florence hosted the first G7 of Culture. For the first time, the Ministers of Culture of Cana- da, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and USA, together with the European Commissioner responsible for culture and UNESCO’s Director General, met to discuss the distinctive role of culture as an instrument for dialogue among peoples, as well as to take measures to strengthen the safeguarding of cultural heritage. A selected number of organisations were invited to join the Meeting; between them, ICOM was the only Non-Governmental Organisation.
ICOM contributed to the expert meetings that discussed three main issues:2
1. International Law as a tool protecting cultural heritage from the threat of terrorism, natural disasters and illegal trafficking;
2. Best practices to prevent illegal import and export of heritage; 3. Cooperation, education and public awareness.
The role of museums in the promotion and protection of heritage has been em- phasised by experts and ministers. The ICOM Code of Ethics has been highly appreciated as an effective instrument to implement international legal instru- ments for the protection of the world’s cultural heritage.
The G7 Ministerial Meeting was concluded by the signature of the Joint De- claration of Florence: Culture as an instrument for dialogue among peoples. The Declaration expresses a deep concern at the ever-increasing risk arising from natural disasters and crimes committed on a global scale against cultural
1. Shenzhen’s Forum gathered more than 50 world class museum directors and thinkers, policy makers and stakeholders to discuss critical issues for the future of museums. ICOM actively participated in the Forum and many ICOM representatives, such as Alberto Garlandini and An Laishun, the two ICOM Vice Presidents, greatly contributed to the Forum’s debates and decisions. 2. ICOM was represented in the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Culture by Vice President Alberto Garlandini and Director of Programmes France Desmarais
heritage, museums, monuments, archaeological sites, archives and libraries. It also stresses the role of cultural relations in promoting tolerance for cultural and religious diversity, as well as mutual understanding.