The General Assembly,
- Having examined document ITH/18/7.GA/7,
- Commends the Secretariat for the continued and timely support provided for the sound governance of the Convention and for having managed various mechanisms under the Convention, acknowledging a number of new initiatives taken to improve the working methods and the high level of resources it requires;
- Further commends the Secretariat for the efforts made to support the International Assistance mechanism and encourages the Secretariat to continue such endeavours, while aiming to ensure better access of States Parties to the Fund with improved monitoring and impact assessment of International Assistance projects;
- Thanks the Secretariat for the essential support provided for the development of an overall results framework for the implementation of the Convention, with the aim to provide an important tool to assess the impacts of the Convention at various levels;
- Appreciates the persistent efforts made by the Secretariat to reinforce the national capacities of States Parties to safeguard intangible cultural heritage through the global capacity-building programme and its global facilitators network and commends the work undertaken to re-orient the strategic approach so as to ensure that the programme continues to be relevant to the evolving capacity-building needs of States Parties as well as the overall international context in which the Convention is implemented;
- Underlines the primary role education plays in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage through its transmission and welcomes the new funding priority for the implementation of the Convention in this regard;
- Welcomes the initiative carried out to develop an outreach and communications plan aiming to enhance awareness about, and the visibility of, the Convention, as well as the pursuit of extra-budgetary resources;
- Takes note of the growing relevance of the Convention in the international context of emergencies, recognizes the role of intangible cultural heritage as a powerful leverage for resilience and recovery, and requests that the Secretariat pursue its efforts in the framework of the Strategy for reinforcing UNESCO’s action for the protection of culture and the promotion of cultural pluralism in the event of armed conflict and its Action Plan, as well as the Addendum to the Strategy concerning emergencies associated with disasters caused by natural and human-induced hazards;
- Calls on States Parties once again to provide support, particularly by making contributions to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund for operational projects and contributions to the sub-fund to enhance the human capacities of the Secretariat in order to allow it to address the growing demands for the continued effective governance and implementation of the Convention;
- Requests that the Secretariat report on its activities for the period between January 2018 and December 2019 for examination by the General Assembly at its eighth session;
- Takes note of the ongoing reflection process on possible ways in which the participation of NGOs under the 2003 Convention could be further enhanced, as well as of the discussion during its seventh session.