The Committee,
- Having examined document ITH/16/11.COM/9.b,
- Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decision 6.COM 8.10,
- Expresses its thanks to the Islamic Republic of Iran for submitting its report on the status of the element ‘Traditional skills of building and sailing Iranian Lenj boats in the Persian Gulf’, inscribed in 2011 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding;
- Takes note of the continued efforts undertaken by the Islamic Republic of Iran to safeguard the element and, in particular, to raise awareness of the element among the bearer community and general public, create a Lenj Research Centre and conduct field research on the current state of the element, institute the training of a new generation of Lenj builders and sailors using traditional apprenticeship methods and improve the capacity of bearers, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and experts for safeguarding;
- Invites the State Party to continue working with a wide variety of state and non‑governmental partners, as well as the community concerned in order to safeguard the element and further develop its role in the contemporary life of the local community, seek ways for reconciling modern methods of boat-building and navigation with traditional methods and provide a real living to Lenj captains and sailors;
- Encourages the State Party to continue to track the impacts of safeguarding activities on the element and its bearers, to increase the number of Lenj workshops using traditional boat-building techniques and to continue to work with bearers to find innovative means of safeguarding the element in the face of technological and economic challenges and to support its practitioners;
- Requests the Secretariat to inform the State Party at least nine months prior to the deadline of 15 December 2019 about the required submission of its next report on the status of this element.