Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 12.COM 14

The Committee,

  1. Having examined document ITH/17/12.COM/14,
  2. Recalling paragraphs 38, 39, 40 and 80(e) of the Operational Directives,
  3. Further recalling Decisions 10.COM 19, 12.COM 11, 12.COM 11.c and document ITH/17/12.COM/11,
  4. Notes that the open-ended intergovernmental working group to discuss draft Operational Directives on the procedure for the removal of an element from a List and the transfer of an element from one List to the other could not be organized before the twelfth session of the Committee, as no supplementary voluntary contributions to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund have been received;
  5. Recalls that the Evaluation Body, on an exceptional basis, concurrently examined the report on the status of the element ‘Xoan singing of Phu Tho Province, Vietnam’ inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, and the new nomination of the same element to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, in order to make a decision on the requested transfer;
  6. Takes note of the observations and recommendations from the first experience of evaluating a request for the transfer of an element;
  7. Recognizes that a revision of the Operational Directives is necessary in order to establish clear and specific procedures, criteria and forms for the removal of an element from a List and the transfer from one List to the other;
  8. Acknowledges, on the basis of its debate at the twelfth session, that the issue of the transfer of an element from one List to the other and the removal of an element from a List raises fundamental questions linked to the intent and purpose of the Convention and its listing mechanisms;
  9. Further recognizes the importance to ensure that in cases of transfer of elements between lists, the communities concerned are fully informed about the distinct and specific objectives of the two lists and the implications of the transfer;
  10. Invites States Parties to refrain from submitting requests for the transfer of an element from one List to the other and the removal of an element from a List until clear procedures have been created and the Operational Directives have subsequently been revised;
  11. Decides to convene an open-ended intergovernmental working group, to be held before the fourteenth session of the Committee in 2019, to reflect inter alia on the procedures for the removal of an element from a List and the transfer from one List to the other, on the nature and purposes of the Lists and the Register established under the Convention and on the relevance of the various criteria for each of these mechanisms; this meeting would be organized on the condition that voluntary supplementary contributions to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund are received in due course, and in any case not later than January 2019, in order to cover all of the costs of organizing the meeting and the costs of the participation of representatives of developing countries that are Parties to the Convention, whether or not they are members of the Committee, but only for persons who are experts in intangible cultural heritage;
  12. Encourages the Secretariat to raise the necessary funding to convene an expert meeting in preparation of the open-ended intergovernmental working group.

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