At its 35th session (Paris, UNESCO, 2011), and within the wider framework of the Revisions to the Operational Guidelines, the World Heritage Committee (Decision 35 COM 13) reiterated “its request to the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies, to organize an expert meeting to reflect on the integrity of cultural properties and to seek extrabudgetary funding to support the organization of this meeting”.
This meeting on Integrity for Cultural Heritage will be held from 12 to 14 March 2012, in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. The main objectives of this expert meeting will be to identify issues relating to the conditions of integrity for cultural heritage and to review the current text in the Operational Guidelines. The meeting will also contribute to a better understanding of the notion of integrity for cultural heritage and will assist the World Heritage Committee in future decision making.
Report of the international World Heritage Expert Meeting on Integrity for Cultural Heritage
Integrity of Cultural Heritage
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Document WHC-11/35.COM/13,
2. Recalling Decisions 31 COM 16, 32 COM 13, 33 COM 13, 34 COM 8B.31 and 34 COM 13 respectively adopted at its 31st (Christchurch, 2007), 32nd (Quebec City, 2008), 33rd (Seville, 2009) and 34th (Brasilia, 2010) sessions,
3. Takes note of the results of the Working Group on the revision of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention established as a Consultative Body (Brasilia, July-August 2010) presented in Section I and the results of the Working Group (UNESCO, Paris, November 2010) presented in Section II of Document WHC-11/35.COM/13;
4. Adopts these revisions to the Operational Guidelines;
5. Welcomes the offer of the Government of Poland to host an expert meeting on criterion (vi) in the first quarter of 2012 and requests the World Heritage Centre to report on the results of this meeting to the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2012;
6. Reiterates its request to the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies, to organize an expert meeting to reflect on the integrity of cultural properties and to seek extrabudgetary funding to support the organization of this meeting;
7. Requests the World Heritage Centre to integrate all changes in a revised version of the Operational Guidelines for electronic and hardcopy publication.
8. Decides to establish an open-ended working group on the Operational Guidelines at the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2012 to consider the proposals made by Jordan on paragraph 68 and reflect on other elements of the Operational Guidelines as may be proposed by other States Parties.
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1. Having examined Document WHC-09/33.COM/13 and WHC-09/33.COM/INF.13,
2. Recalling Decisions 31 COM 16 and 32 COM 13 respectively adopted at its 31st (Christchurch, 2007) and 32nd (Quebec City, 2008) sessions,
3. Takes note of the report of the Working group of the Committee on the World Heritage emblem presented in document WHC-09/33.COM/INF.13 and the work undertaken to propose corresponding revisions to the Operational Guidelines;
4. Requests the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies, and relevant sectors of UNESCO, to continue the work initiated through the Working group on the World Heritage emblem and submit a comprehensive working document focusing on the harmonization of the Directives Concerning the Use of the Name, Acronym, Logo, and Internet Domain Names of UNESCO (Resolution 34 C/86 of the General Conference of UNESCO) to the Committee for examination at its 34th session in 2010;
5. Also requests the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies in conformity with Section IIE of the Operational Guidelines, to organize an expert meeting to develop examples of the application of the conditions of integrity and authenticity to properties nominated under criteria (i) - (vi) for inclusion in Section IIE of the Operational Guidelines and to seek extra-budgetary funding to support the organization of this meeting.
6. Recalling the debate on changes in the Operational Guidelines during the 33rd session of the Committee (Seville, 2009), requests the World Heritage Centre to prepare an updated document of these changes for adoption at the 34th session in 2010 and circulate this for comments to States Parties before the 1 December 2009.
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