The Right to Cultural Participation Public Access to and Enjoyment of Museum Collections in the English and Taiwanese Museums

Museums are spaces in which people, culture and collections are woven together. In the 21st century, the museum sector has been encountering demands for transformation, stemming from societal change, contributing to individual and societal well‐being. Of the various contemporary missions, the role of museums and collections in contribution to human rights have come to the fore. The thesis seeks to investigate the public’s right to take part in cultural life enshrined in Article 15(1)(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 (‘ICESCR’), in the context of museums and their collections. The UK and Taiwan are bound to respect, protect and fulfil the right to cultural participation under the ICESCR. On this ground, this thesis engages in comparative legal research to look at legal and ethical guidance provided for the English and Taiwanese museums. It takes a socio‐legal approach to the discussion of Article 15(1)(a) of the ICESCR, the English charity law, museum ethics (including the ethical codes for museums published by ICOM and the Museums Association in the UK), and Taiwanese laws, including the Two Covenants Implementation Act in 2009 and the Cultural Fundamental Act in 2019.