Fourteenth session of the Committee

Invitation of Colombia to host the 14th session of the Committee in Bogota
© Colombia

This year, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will meet in Bogota, Colombia from 9 to 14 December. The gathering at the Agora Bogotá Centro de convenciones will be the first time the Committee will meet in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ms María Claudia Lopez Sorzano, Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports of the city of Bogotá, will chair this fourteenth session.

In the course of six days, the twenty four members of the Intergovernmental Committee will take stock of recent developments in the implementation of the 2003 Convention and make important decisions about its implementation.

For example, the Committee will consider guidelines on how to best safeguard living heritage in emergency situations and will continue its reflection on how to improve the participation of non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Convention. An update regarding the reform of the periodic reporting mechanism to be launched in 2020 in the Latin American and the Caribbean is also included on the Committee’s agenda. Moreover, Committee members will examine the status of elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List and on the use of International Assistance granted to States for supporting their efforts of safeguarding living heritage.

As is the case every year, the Committee will consider elements for inscription on the Lists of the Convention. Six elements for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and forty-two on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity will be examined as well as three proposals for selection on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. Three International Assistance requests will also be tabled for the Committee’s consideration.

Committee Members

Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Djibouti, Guatemala, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius, Netherlands, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Togo and Zambia

Vacant seats in the Evaluation Body

The Evaluation Body was established with a system of rotation, by which three of its twelve members be appointed at each session of the Committee. During the next Committee, following seats are to be filled:

Electoral Group I: one accredited NGO (94 NGOs are currently accredited)
Electoral Group II: one accredited NGO (17 NGOs are currently accredited)
Electoral Group V(a): one expert

The calendar of appointment stands as follows:

18 October: States Parties should send candidates to the Chairperson of their Electoral Group;
28 October: the Chairperson of each group should send a maximum of 3 candidates to the Secretariat;
8 November: the Secretariat publishes working documents of the Committee, including the list of candidatures;
During the 14th session, the Committee appoints the three new members.

Agenda, documents and recordings

Committee Members wishing to submit amendments are invited to fill in following form (Amendments) and to send it to ICH-amendments@unesco.org.

Out of concern for the environment and in order to reduce costs, printed copies of the documents will not be provided.

	Item of the agenda	Documents
1	Opening	LHE/19/14.COM/INF.1: English\|French General information
2	Adoption of the agenda	LHE/19/14.COM/2 Rev.: English\|French LHE/19/14.COM/INF.2.1: English\|French Provisional timetable
3	Observers
4	Adoption of the summary records of the thirteenth session of the Committee	LHE/19/14.COM/4: English\|French Adoption of the summary records of the thirteenth session of the Committee
5.a	Report by the Committee on its activities
5.b	Report by the Secretariat on its activities
6	Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund: voluntary supplementary contributions and other issues
7	Draft plan for the use of the resources of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund in 2020–2021
8	Reform of the periodic reporting mechanism
9.a	Examination of the reports of States Parties on the current status of elements inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
9.b	Reports of States Parties on the use of International Assistance from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund
10	Report of the Evaluation Body on its work in 2019
10.a	Examination of nominations for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
10.b	Examination of nominations for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
10.c	Examination of proposals to the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices
10.d	Examination of requests for International Assistance
11	Modification of the name of an inscribed element
12	Follow-up on elements inscribed on the Lists of the Convention
13	Intangible cultural heritage in emergencies
14	Reflection on the listing mechanisms of the Convention
15	Reflection on the participation of non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Convention
16	Report of the informal ad hoc open-ended working group
17	Accreditation of new non-governmental organizations and review of accredited non-governmental organizations
18	Establishment of the Evaluation Body for the 2020 cycle
19	Follow-up on the implementation of the relevant recommendations of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Governance, Procedures and Working Methods of the Governing Bodies of UNESCO (39 C/Resolution 87)
20	Date and venue of the fifteenth session of the Committee
21	Election of the members of the Bureau of the fifteenth session of the Committee
22	Other business
23	Adoption of the list of decisions
24	Closure