Faro Convention Report from the Swedish National Heritage Board

The Faro Convention Report from the Swedish National Heritage Board The Faro Convention Council of Europe Framework Convention on the social value of cultural heritage The Faro Convention National Heritage Board in 2014 Box 5405 SE-114 84 Stockholm www.raa.se [email protected] 1 The Faro Convention Contents Recommendations 1. Summary Part I - The Convention's content and purpose Part II - Consequences of ratification 1 Introduction 1.1 Description and starting points for the government’s commission 1.2 Method and implementation 1.3 Materials and resources 1.4 Structure and reading instructions Part I The Convention’s aims and visions 2 The Convention's legislative history and status in Europe 2.1 The Council of Europe - a background 2.2 The Faro Convention - "A Policy Framework for a New Era" 2.3 The Faro Convention in relation to other cultural conventions 2.4 The Framework Convention as a tool for Swedish public cultural environment management 3 Cultural heritage as a resource for socially sustainable development 3.1 The concept of sustainability - a broader definition 3.2 The convention’s broader concept of heritage 3.3 Cultural heritage as a resource – the individual level 3.4 Cultural heritage as a resource – the societal level 3.5 Cultural heritage as a resource – the European level, "the common heritage of Europe" 4 Cultural heritage as a resource for economically sustainable development 4.1 Cultural heritage as economic capital 4.2 Cultural heritage as part of an economically sustainable development 4.3 How to measure the monetary value of cultural heritage 5 The Convention's perspective on rights and responsibilities 5.1 The Faro Convention’s connection to human rights 5.2 The Faro Convention connection to cultural rights 5.3 Individual or collective? 5.4 Cultural heritage as a right and responsibility and the Convention's legal status 6 "Heritage Communities" - a collaborative model for increased participation 6.1 Increased collaboration and shared responsibility 6.2 "Heritage Communities" - what are they? 6.3 "Heritage Communities" and the concept’s connection to rights and responsibilities 2 6.4 The expert role and civic dialogue – the democracy perspective and social benefits 6.5 Knowledge and accessibility Part II Impact analysis 7 The individual, societal and European level - the Convention's vision of the role of heritage in promoting socially sustainable development 7.1 Cultural heritage as a resource for social sustainability – in-depth analysis 7.2 "The common heritage of Europe" 7.3 How to take account of sustainable development from a cultural perspective in Sweden 7.4 Impact analysis 8 Human values and economic growth - the Convention's vision of economically- sustainable development 8.1 Cultural heritage as an economic resource – in-depth analysis 8.2 The Swedish public cultural administration’s work with cultural heritage as a resource for economic sustainability 2001-2013 8.3 Impact analysis 9 Paradigm shifts in the field of cultural heritage - the Convention from a rights and responsibilities perspective 9.1 The Faro Convention as a cultural paradigm – in-depth analysis 9.2 The right to take part in the cultural heritage – legal and cultural policy objectives for Sweden 9.3 Impact analysis 10 Expert groups and civic dialogue – the Convention from a democratic perspective 10.1 "Heritage Communities" – in-depth analysis 10.2 The public cultural administration in matters concerning civil society and other social players 10.3 Impact analysis Appendices Appendix 1: Current status in Europe Appendix 2: Summary of the articles of the Convention Sources and literature Official printed sources Printed sources and literature Internet sources 3 Recommendations This report has examined the conditions and consequences of signing up to the Faro Convention. The National Heritage Board recommends that Sweden ratify the Faro Convention. The National Heritage Board believes that no constitutional changes need be made in connection with ratification. The reasons why the National Heritage Board recommends ratification of The Faro Convention are as follows: The majority of the articles in the Faro Convention deal with how cultural heritage can be a resource for social and economic sustainability. These questions have long been central to Swedish public cultural environment management. The Convention, however, would be able to further revitalise this work, in particular with regard to broadening and deepening the conversation with the immediate society. The Convention should thus be regarded as a "point of departure" for developing further questions that the Swedish cultural environment management is already working on, but which need to be developed and adapted for today's social situation. Ratification of the Faro Convention, which is a framework convention, is not primarily about meeting specific conditions. It is more about acting in the spirit of the convention. The Convention does not require constitutional amendments to enable ratification. Furthermore, parts of the content are consistent with how Swedish public cultural environment management has been working for a number of years. Hence there is nothing in the Convention that on a general level contradicts Sweden's approach to the cultural environment. Ratification, even if Sweden chooses to adopt this at a minimum level, can positively affect the countries where an implementation process can make a big difference. At the same time this provides the opportunity for Sweden to work collaboratively to support other countries in their implementation. Ratification of the Faro Convention strengthens cooperation between the ratifying states within the whole Council of Europe. The Convention thus becomes a kind of starting point for a broader cooperation and a document that can inspire learning across borders, and an instrument for discussion. The Convention may continue, at a national level, to help maintain discussions and to be a way to facilitate the dissemination of information to organisations and citizens regarding issues concerning the cultural environment. The Faro Convention points to an organisation and structure which aim at creating ideas for how a set of values can be a part of today's work with the cultural environment. The Faro Convention is designed to inspire a variety of activities rather than provide a document with a number of commitments to be 4 administered. The fact that it is a framework convention leaves ample room for the ratifying countries themselves to adapt the level of implementation. Sweden could thus ratify for “the sake of a good cause” and then look for the elements that could enrich, but without the need to reinvent the policies and practices already being 1 used. Ratification can also be motivated by the fact that the Convention’s overall international benefit is considered to be greater than a country's potential self- interest in not ratifying. The Faro Convention has until now mainly been ratified by countries whose recent history involve politically- and culturally-charged conflicts. Swedish ratification of the Convention should therefore be justified on the basis of the Convention’s peace-making and conflict-prevention focus. Ratification would therefore be considered as an act of solidarity with those countries where conflicts and armed conflicts between ethnic groups have made the cultural heritage military objectives. 2 1 Erlandsson, M., Conventions as a tool for public authorities. Decisions and effects of possible ratification by Sweden of the Faro Convention report RAÄ, 2013, page 90 2 Ibid page 82, p. 3 5 Summary Part I – The Convention's content and purpose The Faro Convention is a framework convention that adopts a comprehensive approach to the wide range of issues that, from a European perspective, have a bearing on the cultural environment. The background to the origins of the Convention can be found in numerous social changes. These include social and demographic changes in society, a changed political situation in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, an increased flow of information as a result of social media and digitalisation and the fact that heritage today to a greater extent represents an economic value. The Convention aims to respond to the new needs and challenges faced by the cultural heritage arena, and therefore aims for strategies that indicate a new direction for cultural environment work. Hence the Faro Convention differs from other cultural heritage conventions by its lack of clear "guidelines" on how to relate to conservation issues in the cultural environment. It should not, in the first instance, be considered a kind of defence instrument, as it does not focus on how the various types of remnants of the past should be protected. Instead, the Convention deals with issues concerning what we preserve and why and for whom. In this way, the Convention seeks to reach beyond the physical preservation of cultural heritage, and to focus on how cultural heritage can be managed and integrated into ongoing social processes. The Convention is based on two important points. One is to put people at the centre through a clear connection to the area of human rights. Each individual should be granted the right to experience and interpret what cultural heritage can mean. The second point emphasises the positive benefits of using heritage as a resource. The framework convention’s overall aim is thus to ensure the place of cultural heritage at the centre of a new vision of sustainable development.3 A prerequisite for implementing this vision is the introduction of a broad concept of cultural heritage. This is actually the broadest concept to appear in any convention text to date, and is referred to as "a cross-disciplinary concept of cultural heritage”. The necessity of this broad cultural concept has been guided by the idea that heritage and its function must be defined in relation to social change and to human contemporary values. Cultural heritage is considered to have an interactive nature, which means that it can continually be redefined.

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