The Committee,

1. Having examined document LHE/23/18.COM/7.a,
2. Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decision COM 10.a.2,
3. Expresses its appreciation to Azerbaijan for submitting, on time, its first report on the status of the element ‘Yalli (Kochari, Tenzere), traditional group dances of Nakhchivan’, inscribed in 2018 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 by documenting and raising awareness about its diversity, particularly among young people, developing opportunities for training and transmission, and initiating the establishment of an association of traditional yalli dances and a Yalli Information Centre in Sharur;
5. Encourages the State Party to pursue its efforts to transmit the element to younger generations, to raise awareness about its social and cultural functions and broaden training opportunities, to sustain the possibilities to learn the element at music and dance schools, and to encourage its informal transmission at social events within the communities concerned;
6. Invites the State Party to continue safeguarding the element in all its forms and aspects, including dance, music, singing and playing musical instruments, to pursue research and inventorying, and to integrate its results into training programmes;
7. Further invites the State Party to continue strengthening the practice and its transmission across the regions of Nakhchivan, using local culture houses to enhance the involvement of amateur dancers, complete the establishment of the association of traditional yalli dances and the Yalli Information Centre in Sharur, and support their operations with the broad involvement of the communities concerned;
8. 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.