In June 2006, the General Assembly accepted, by Resolution 1.GA 7A, the offer of the Algerian authorities to organize the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Algiers. The Committee met for two days: 18 and 19 November 2006. Prior to the meeting, an extraordinay session of the General Assembly on 9 November increased the number of States Members of the Committee from 18 to 24. Thus, the Committee, from its first session, was composed of the maximum number of members foreseen by the Convention.
During this session, the Committee adopted its Rules of Procedure and opened preliminary discussions on:
- Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention (Article 7)
- Advisory assistance to the Intergovernmental Committee (Article 8 and Article 9)
- Criteria for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Article 7, Article 16 and Article 17)
Committee Members during the first session
Algeria, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Bulgaria, Central African Republic, China, Estonia, France, Gabon, Hungary, India, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Romania, Senegal, Syrian Arab Republic, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam
Members of the Bureau of the first session of the Committee
- Chairperson: H. E. Ms Khalida TOUMI (Algeria)
- Vice-Chairs: Bolivia, China, Estonia and Senegal
- Rapporteur: Mr Jean-Pierre DUCASTELLE (Belgium)
Speeches
- H.E. Mr. Mohammed Bedjaoui, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria (in English|French)
- H.E. Mr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan, President of the General Conference of UNESCO (in English|Arabic)
- Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO (in English)
- H.E. Ms. Khalida Toumi, Minister of Culture of Algeria (in English|French)
Oral Report
Decisions and Summary records
- Decisions: English|French
- Summary records: English|French (approved during the first extraordinary session)
Working documents distributed before the meeting
- Adoption of the Rules of Procedure
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/2: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD - Election of the members of the Bureau of the first session of the Committee
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/3: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD - Adoption of the Agenda and Timetable
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/4: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD - Preparation of texts required for the implementation of the Convention
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/5: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD - Advisory assistance to the Committee
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/6: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD - Criteria for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/7: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD - Election of the members of the Bureau of the second session of the Committee
ITH/06/1.COM/CONF.204/9: English: PDF - WORD|French: PDF - WORD