The Committee,
- Having examined document LHE/21/16.COM/7.d,
- Recalling Article 24.3 of the Convention,
- Thanks the beneficiary States for their timely submission of final or progress reports for projects benefitting from International Assistance under the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, and at the same time requests that beneficiary States with projects whose implementation has been delayed take appropriate measures and ensure the respect of reporting obligations;
- Notes with satisfaction that countries from Electoral Group V(a) continue to be the main beneficiaries of International Assistance, in line with Global Priority Africa, while the access to the Fund has improved for other groups, notably for Small Island Developing States, congratulates those States that have been granted International Assistance for the first time, and encourages States that have not benefitted from the Fund to consider this mechanism of assistance in their efforts to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage present in their territories;
- Expresses its concern, at the same time, that the implementation of projects under the mechanism has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and requests that the Secretariat closely support and monitor the implementation of such projects;
- Also requests that the Secretariat take appropriate actions to promote the mechanism as a tool for supporting national safeguarding efforts, including in the context of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Further encourages States Parties to continue taking advantage of the technical assistance arranged by the Secretariat, especially those States Parties that face recurrent difficulties in revising requests referred by the Bureau or the Committee;
- Expresses its support for the continuous use of the modality for the provision of services, as provided by Article 21 (a) to (f) and as a complement and alternative modality to the provision of financial grants.