Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 18.COM 7.A.11

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.8 and 14.COM 9.a.4,
  3. Expresses its appreciation to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for submitting, on time, its second report on the status of the element ‘Mapoyo oral tradition and its symbolic reference points within their ancestral territory’, 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 by enhancing its transmission and supporting the use of the Mapoyo language in education, encouraging community elders to transmit their knowledge on social life and nature preservation, reviving traditional practices related to nature, and striving for the sustainability of Mapoyo oral tradition in its natural environment;
  5. Encourages the State Party to pursue its efforts to safeguard the element through education, including through the opening of a high school in El Palomo, to enhance the intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge and practices in their natural contexts, to introduce signage within the Mapoyo ancestral territory using the Mapoyo language, and to advance research on the element;
  6. Invites the State Party to continue adopting a participatory and inclusive approach to safeguarding, involving all members of the community, pursuing dialogue and assuming the responsibilities of various stakeholders, such as mining companies, supporting the bearers of the element and ensuring their social security;
  7. Notes with concern the closure of the Murukuní Community Museum, and further invites the State Party to support its restoration, reopening and the community-driven reactivation of its work in order to preserve the collections and ensure their accessibility, while promoting Mapoyo culture and raising its visibility in society;
  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.

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