Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 18.COM 7.a.9

The Committee,

  1. Having examined document LHE/23/18.COM/7.a,
  2. Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decisions COM 9.a.5 and 14.COM 9.a.2,
  3. Expresses its appreciation to Kenya for submitting, on time, its second report on the status of the element ‘Isukuti dance of Isukha and Idakho communities of Western Kenya’, inscribed in 2014 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding;
  4. Takes note of the efforts undertaken by the State Party to safeguard the element, in particular through its documentation and by providing training possibilities and encouraging the involvement of youth in its practice, mapping and alternating raw materials for instrument making, facilitating networking among practitioners and ensuring a participatory process for the documentation, safeguarding and monitoring of the element;
  5. Encourages the State Party to pursue its efforts to strengthen the viability of the element by integrating it into education, providing training sessions, enhancing community networking and continuing documentation and research, and to proceed with the establishment of a crafts center and an Isukuti Centre as foreseen in the safeguarding plan;
  6. Recalls the importance of obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of bearers and practitioners regarding the documentation of their knowledge and performances, its long-term storage and further dissemination;
  7. Invites the State Party to improve the viability of the element and all associated aspects, such as knowledge of the traditional songs, drumbeats and meanings of Isukuti dance, as well as instrument-making skills, and to facilitate and support communities in their efforts to document the element, store and preserve the related information and sustain access to such information, including through the planned website dedicated to the element;
  8. Further invites the State Party to continue taking particular care to avoid the possible negative consequences of safeguarding efforts, such as the over-commercialization of the element;
  9. Further encourages the State Party to continue its fundraising efforts and developing synergies among various funding sources;
  10. Requests that the Secretariat inform the State Party at least nine months prior to the next deadline about the required submission of its next report on the status of this element.

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