More than 500 participants attended the sixth session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO headquarters.
During three highly productive days, the General Assembly debated and adopted substantial resolutions, including several important revisions to the Operational Directives:
- Adoption of a new chapter that reaffirms the significance of living heritage as a driver for sustainable development.
- Increasing the budget ceiling for international assistance requests that the Bureau can examine from US$25,000 to US$100,000.
- Extending the referral option to nominations to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, proposals to the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices and requests for international assistance.
The General Assembly accredited 24 NGOs, which means that the Committee can now consult a total of 164 NGOs on a wide range of issues.
In the final day, the General Assembly elected 12 new members of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage: Armenia, Austria, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Guatemala, Lebanon, Palestine, Philippines, Mauritius, Senegal, and Zambia.
Meeting:
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6th session of the General Assembly (30 May 2016 – 1 June 2016)