2024 G20 Summit Recognizes Culture’s Power in Historic Leaders’ Declaration
November 25, 2024
Strong Statement Follows Fourth Annual G20 Cultural Ministerial Meeting
From November 18–19, global leaders convened in Brazil for the 2024 G20 Summit. At this meeting, heads of state committed to building a fair, sustainable world with a specific priority to fight inequality. These discussions resulted in the 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration.
Culture played an important role throughout the Brazilian presidency, which is reflected in the Declaration. In section 28, G20 leaders “recognize culture’s power and intrinsic value in nurturing solidarity, dialogue, collaboration and cooperation, fostering a more sustainable world, in all dimensions and from all perspectives.” They also enshrine key invocations for member states, including supporting relevant law and policy such as the UNESCO conventions, strengthening the protection of cultural heritage, and fostering an open dialogue about the restitution of cultural property.
This strong language follows the fourth G20 Cultural Ministerial, held on November 8th in Salvador. At this year’s meeting, Brazil’s Minister of Culture noted the impact of the inclusion of culture in G20 technical discussions: “Through the power of its contribution, Culture has proven to be a genuine tool for promoting dialogue, showing the way to understanding and peace, and demonstrating how we can, through our diversity, create common development strategies.”
During its G20 Presidency, Brazil focused on four topics under the cultural working group: cultural diversity and social inclusion; culture, digital environment, and copyright; creative economy and sustainable development; and preservation, safeguarding, and the promotion of cultural heritage and memory. The Ministerial meeting concluded with the signing of the Salvador da Bahia Declaration, which addressed each of the four priorities. Importantly, the Declaration reiterated the groups “concern about the continued looting and trafficking of cultural property” and reaffirmed its “commitment to strengthening the fight against crimes committed against cultural heritage and cultural institutions.”
The Salvador da Bahia Declaration also called for specific actions, such as:
- The full recognition and support of culture as an enabler for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and as a potential standable goal in future development agendas
- Strengthened global coordination to bolster the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property though cooperation, capacity building, technical exchanges, due diligence, and education
- The ratification and effective implementation of international agreements such as the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two protocols, the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects
- Support of an open and inclusive dialogue on the return and restitution of cultural property, including illegally exported property
The AC welcomes these outcomes, which reflect our own recommendations made in our Task Force Report, Safeguarding Cultural Heritage In Conflict Zones: A Roadmap for the G20 to Combat the Illicit Trade, published in 2021.
The G20, as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, is in a unique position to make a difference in the global fight against the illicit trade in antiquities and the protection of cultural heritage around the world. In 2025, South Africa will assume the presidency of the G20, marking the first time an African country has assumed this position. The AC looks forward to supporting these developments during its tenure, under the theme of “solidarity, equality and sustainability.”
Read the Leaders’ Declaration here.
Read the Salvador da Bahia Declaration here.
Read more about South Africa’s presidency here.