8194 Decisions
146 Resolutions
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General agreement was expressed on the factors proposed for consideration in determining an order of priorities but some comments were made on the concepts of "educational value" and "socio-economic benefits".
It was therefore proposed that this question be taken up in depth at a later session. In the meantime, the phrase "consequences from the social and economic points of view" was adopted.
It was agreed that a draft text of the standard agreement would be prepared by the Secretariat and sent to members of the Committee well in advance of the second session.
It was decided that requests for emergency assistance would be receivable only from States Parties and only with respect to property included or nominated for inclusion in the World Heritage List. If these two conditions were met, the Secretariat would submit the request to the Chairman for decision in consultation with the Director-General on the type and extent of assistance to be granted.
The Committee decided that, at the request of States Parties, technical co-operation would be provided under the Fund for these two purposes*, in accordance with the terms of Article 21(1) of the Convention and within the limits of the approved budget (see paragraph 57 below). Such assistance would be in the form of expert services or equipment. Authority would be delegated to the Chairman who would decide, in consultation with the Director-General, on the type and extent of preparatory assistance to be granted.
* These purposes were referred to in the previous paragraph: (i) nominations ...
The Committee had no comments on the text of the Financial Regulations prepared by the Secretariat, and already noted by the General Assembly of States Parties and the Executive Board of Unesco.
The Committee decided to defer until a later session its decisions on the establishment and publication of the List of World Heritage in Danger and of the list of properties for which international assistance is granted and also with respect to the share to be contributed by the recipient State in any given project.
The Committee had before it the proposals of the Director-General on organizations that could be invited to send observers to future sessions of the Committee, as follows:
United Nations;
United Nations Environmental Programme;
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
World Food Programme;
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
Interamerican Development Bank;
Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization;
Council of Europe;
Organization of American States;
South-East Asian Ministers of ...
At the last meeting of the Committee, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee presented his report which, after a statement on the philosophy underlying the Convention, set out the decisions taken by the Committee on the various questions raised in the main working document. He drew the attention of participants to Section IV of the document in which several recommendations addressed to States Parties were formulated. With a certain number of modifications, which are referred to in the appropriate section of this record, the report under the title of "Operational Guidelines for the ...
On the basis of resources available in the World Heritage Fund, the Secretariat proposed in document CC-77/CONF.001/6, a budget covering (i) the preparation of model nomination files, (ii) technical co-operation to States Parties in preparing their nominations and requests for assistance, and (iii) emergency assistance required before the next session of the Committee.
Members found the sums available to be very modest indeed and some felt that additional funds might be required. It was decided that the Bureau should have authority to increase the budget provisions, if necessary in the light of requests received and of funds available. With this provision, the Committee unanimously adopted the proposed budget.
The Scientific Director of the International Organization for the Protection of Works of Art presented the offer of collaboration of that Organization.
While-some members encouraged the Committee to accept the proposed offer which had no financial implications, others were uncertain as to whether the objectives of that Organization were the same as those of the Convention, particularly since the work of the Organization in question appeared to relate to movable cultural objects. This led to an exchange of views on the difficulty of distinguishing clearly between movable and immovable cultural property.
It was subsequently decided that the International Organization for the Protection of the Works of Art would be invited to attend future sessions of the Committee, in an observer capacity. However, a member of the Committee asked that it be noted that this decision was in no way to be interpreted as recognizing a special status for that Organization within the framework of the World Heritage Convention and that there was no commitment on the part of the Committee to grant a special status in the future.
The representative of the Director-General introduced document CC-77/CONF.001/7 which, at this stage, was submitted to the Committee for information only. He explained that the offer included a house in Cairo and a capital fund of $240,000 from which the interest could be used to finance a number of fellowships in Egyptian archaeology; he pointed out that the administrative and practical problems involved in the upkeep of the house would make it difficult to accept that part of the donation.
The representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt supplemented the information provided, giving further details on Professor Badawy's offer.
The Committee expressed sincere thanks to Professor Badawy for his offer and authorized the Secretariat to study further the exact conditions of the offer and to report to it at its second session.
The representative of the United States of America, on behalf of the Secretary of State invited the Committee to hold its next session in Washington. The Committee expressed its gratitude to the United States for this generous offer, which was accepted by acclamation.
It was decided that the exact dates of the next session, which would take place between 15 September and 31 October 1978, would be fixed by the Chairman, in consultation with the Government of the United States of America and the Director-General.
It was further decided that the Bureau would meet in Paris on 8 and 9 June 1978. The Rome Centre, ICOMOS and IUCN would be invited to attend.
At the last plenary meeting the Rapporteur presented an oral report in which he highlighted the main conclusions and decisions of the Committee. In concluding his report, he referred to one issue that had not been discussed during the session, namely Secretariat assistance to the Committee: in view of the volume and complexity of the administrative work involved both in the preparation of documentation for the sessions of the Committee and in implementing its decisions, which would be particularly heavy as from 1979, he suggested that Unesco should carefully examine the situation and ...
The Rapporteur's oral report has been incorporated into the present summary record, of which it forms a substantial part.
5. The Committee elected by acclamation Bulgaria and Senegal as Vice-Chairmen.
10. ICOMOS confirmed that the description of the property comprised the totality of the Old City and its Walls, and included both the list of buildings submitted with the original nomination and the supplementary list.11. The Committee registered this confirmation. It agreed that "The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls" constituted an historic ensemble which should be considered in its totality as a coherent whole whose balance and specific character depend on the synthesis of the elements of which it is composed and where the preservation should be carried out taking into account the ...
1 GA 6
Election of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairpersons and Rapporteur of the General Assembly and adoption of the Rules of Procedure
6. After the meeting had been opened by Mr. John E. Fobes, Deputy Director General of Unesco, the General Assembly adopted its Rules of Procedure, with the amendments to Article 12, paragraphs 3 and 6, proposed by the representative of the Director General of Unesco. The Assembly thereafter elected by acclamation His Excellency Ambassador Hamid Rahnema (Iran) as its Chairman, the representatives of Algeria Bulgaria, Ecuador, Senegal and the United States, as Vice-Chairmen, and Mr. Michel Parent (France) as ...
15. The results of the vote, announced by the Chairman, were as follows :
Number of States Parties present and voting 25
Number of valid voting papers 25
France 25 votes
Iran 23 votes
Nigeria 23 ...
1 GA 20
Determination of the amount of the contributions to the World Heritage Fund in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the World Heritage Convention
20. With respect to the amount of the compulsory or voluntary contributions that States Parties will make to the World Heritage Fund, the delegations of Switzerland and Poland proposed that it.be fixed at 0.75% of the contribution to the Regular Budget of Unesco, whereas the delegations of Zaire, Nigeria, Algeria, Syria and Australia proposed 1%. Since no objection was lodged when the Chairman asked the General Assembly if it accepted this latter percentage, this was adopted without recourse to a vote. The delegation of Switzerland stated that, had a vote occurred, it would have ...
The Assembly took note without discussion of the method and procedure for payment set forth in the information document on the World Heritage Fund and did not formulate any comments concerning the draft financial regulations of the Fund.
The Government of Guatemala has requested emergency assistance for the town of "Antigua Guatemala" which has been damaged by an earthquake and torrential rains. This assistance amounting to US$ 50,000 and intended for the purchase of equipment was granted by the Bureau.
Sites: Antigua Guatemala
The Government of Ecuador has requested US$ 50,000 for the purchase of the necessary equipment to eliminate animals which are foreign to the Galapagos Islands and which are destroying the local flora. The Bureau recommends that the Committee should grant this technical cooperation for the site which is included in the List.
Sites: Galápagos Islands
The Tanzanian Goverment has requested the services of an architect-museologist for thre weeks in order to draw up a project for the conservation and presentation of the prehistoric sites of Olduvai and Laetolil. The Bureau recommended that the Committee grant this technical co-operation if the property is inscribed on the List.
Sites: Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Egyptian Government has requested the services of specialists in cultural heritage (6 m/m) as well as equipment (amounting to a total cost of US$ 30,000) to draw up a project for the restoration and development of the old Islamic Centre of Cairo. The Bureau recommends that the Committee accept this request if the property is entered on the List.
Sites: Historic Cairo
The Ethiopian Government has requested technical co-operation for the purpose of carrying out a photogrammetric survey of the monuments of Lalibela (at an estimated cost of US$ 144,500). In view of ICCROM's opinion, the Bureau - while generally in favour of technical co-operation for the preservation of the Lalibela monuments - considered it advisable to defer its decision.
Sites: Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela
The Ethiopian Government has requested the services of two experts (36 m/m) and equipment for two natural sites in order to systematically investigate these parks and to consider the possibility of reinstalling elsewhere the population living here. The Bureau decided to defer its decision until the nominations to the World Heritage List, which had been received too late, could be examined.
Sites: Bale Mountains National Park
2 BUR V.28
Technical co-operation requests - Syrian Arab Republic (requests n°20.I, 21.I, 22.I, 23.I)
The Syrian Governement has requested equipment (cranes, lorries, jeeps, etc...) for the restoration of Damascus (20.I), Aleppo (21.I), Bosra (22.I) and Palmyra (23.I). However, since the additional information requested has not been received and only the site of Damascus had been recommended for inscription on the List, the Bureau preferred to defer its decision until the information required had been received.
Sites: Ancient City of Damascus
The second session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as "the Committee") was held in Washington from 5 to 8 September 1978. The session was attended by the following members of the World Heritage Committee: Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Poland, Tunisia, United States of America and Yugoslavia.
Representatives of the International Centre for Conservation, the International Council of Monuments and Sites, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (hereinafter referred to as "ICCROM", "ICOMOS" and "IUCN" respectively) attended the meeting in an advisory capacity.
Observers from five States Parties to the Convention not members of the Committee, namely Brazil, Morocco, Panama, Switzerland and the Syrian Arab Republic, also attended the session, as well as observers from ten international governmental and non-governmental organizations and a wider public audience.
The full list of participants will be found in Annex III to this report.
The second session of the Committee was opened by its Chairman, Mr. Firouz Bagherzadeh. In welcoming members of the Committee, representatives of advisory organizations and all other participants, he recalled the great progress already achieved in the implementation of the Convention thanks to the efforts of the States Parties, Bureau members, the Secretariat and the advisory organizations. He concluded by expressing his confidence that the session would be both fruitful and enjoyable.
Mr. David Hales, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior, welcomed delegates to Washington on behalf of the United States of America. He conveyed to the Committee a written message from the President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, the text of which is given in Annex I. The Committee greatly appreciated the personal message from the President of the United States of America and requested the Chairman to convey to the President its gratitude for the message with which he had honoured the opening of the second session.