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Cultural genocide is a political and rhetorical term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation for political, military, religious, ideological, ethnical, or racial reasons. RELEVANCE TO INTERNATIONAL LAW As early as was confined to acts of physical or biological destruction with intent to destroy a racial, religious, ethnic or national group as such. Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, art. 2, Dec. 9, 1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277. Article 7 of the 1991 , 1992/33 of 27 August 1992 , 1993/46 of 26 August 1993 , presented to the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council at 36th meeting 26 August 1994 and adopted without a vote. uses the phrase "cultural genocide" but does not define what it means. The complete article reads as follows: :Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right not to be subjected to Ethnocide and cultural genocide, including prevention of and redress for: ::(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities; ::(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources; ::(c) Any form of Population Transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights; ::(d) Any form of Assimilation Or Integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures; ::(e) Any form of propaganda directed against them. It should be noted that this declaration is only a draft. Were it to pass, it would be a " Soft Law " instrument and would not present binding legal obligations on UN parties. Despite its lack of legal currency, the term has acquired rhetorical value as a phrase that is used to protest against the destruction of cultural heritage. It is also often misused as a catchphrase to condemn any destruction the user of the phrase disaproves of, without regard for the criterion of intent to destroy an affected group as such. EXAMPLES OF THE TERM'S RHETORICAL USAGE Cultural advocates have leveled charges of "cultural genocide" in connection with various events:
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