An Analysis to the Conceptual Development of Culture in International Human Rights Law and Its Impact on the Promotion of Cultural Rights

The present article, in a descriptive-analytic method and on a library-based approach, aims to investigate the conceptual development of culture in International Human Rights Law and its relationship with the promotion of cultural human rights. Culture, as the essence of being human, is central to man and without which no rights are possible. In International Law arena, culture is mostly presented in cultural rights discourse, and various expressions of the concept could be found in different international instrument. This study demonstrates that, from the establishment of UN up to now, the concept of culture has experienced three evolutional interpretations: culture as culture of elites or high culture, culture as popular culture and culture as a way of life. This evolutional process shows the increasing significance of cultural diversity in the contemporary International Law and consequently promotion of cultural rights.