Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 17.COM 6.A

The Committee,

  1. Having examined document LHE/22/17.COM/6.a Rev.,
  2. Recalling Articles 7, 29 and 30 of the Convention concerning reports by States Parties and Chapter V of the Operational Directives,
  3. Underlining the importance of periodic reporting on the status of elements inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, which serves as a key monitoring tool for the States Parties concerned and for the Committee to assess the viability of elements at risk,
  4. Thanks the States Parties that submitted their reports on time, and appreciates the efforts of the States Parties that have submitted their overdue reports;
  5. Encourages the States Parties to provide full and up-to-date content in their future reports on elements inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, and to avoid repeating the content of previous reports, and invites the States Parties to pay particular attention to the clarity of the language used, to ensure that their safeguarding efforts are adequately considered in the respective analysis;
  6. Recalls the distinctiveness of sections C.4 and D of reporting Form ICH-11 and further encourages the States Parties to describe, in the relevant section of their future reports, the involvement of the communities, groups and individuals concerned, as well as relevant non-governmental organizations in updating the safeguarding plan;
  7. Observes that the recommendations of the Committee provided in its previous decisions on the reports on the inscribed elements were taken into account by some States and reflected in updated safeguarding plans, while they had a limited impact on the safeguarding of elements in other cases, and also encourages the States Parties to consider the recommendations of the Committee, which are generally aimed at ensuring carefully considered activities to safeguard in the inscribed elements concerned;
  8. Takes note that six reports mention the explicit wish of the relevant reporting State Party, based on their assessment of the improved viability of the element concerned, to seek a transfer of said element from the Urgent Safeguarding List to the Representative List;
  9. Decides, as a transitional measure, that transfer requests, may be submitted by 30 June 2023 using Form ICH-02 USL to RL from:
  • States Parties who submitted reports on elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List for examination by the present session of the Committee (2022 cycle) as well as;
  • States Parties who will submit reports on elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, for the deadline for 15 December 2022, for examination by the eighteenth session of the Committee (2023 cycle);
  1. Recalls that the designations employed in the reports presented by the States Parties do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Committee nor UNESCO concerning a) the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, b) the legal status of its authorities or c) the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries;
  2. Further decides to submit to the General Assembly at its tenth session a summary 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 examined during the current session.

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