 This was the first of the IPDC Special Initiatives, initiated by the Council in 2006 and launched in 2008 after a period of research, drafting and consultation.The framework is built on UNESCO’s Constitutional mandate to foster “the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” and “the free flow of ideas by word and image”.It has been applied in over 20 countries and assessments are ongoing in 18 more.