The 6th extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee was opened by Mr Tamás Fejérdy, (Hungary) Chairperson on 17 March 2003 at UNESCO Headquarters. He welcomed Mr Koïchiro Matsuura the Director-General of UNESCO and the 21 members of the Committee: Argentina, Belgium, China, Colombia, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe4.
73 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention who are not members of ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Noting the invitation it has received to attend the information meeting on the Draft Declaration concerning the Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage to be held on 18 March from 10 to 12 a.m;
Decides to cancel its session planned at the same time as the information meeting to allow those delegations who wish to participate in that meeting to do so;
Noting the linkages between agenda items 3, 4, 5 and 6 of its extraordinary session ;
Decides to work in plenary to the extent possible;
Adopts the Agenda and Timetable as presented in WHC-03/6 ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Adopts the Rules of Procedure as revised by the World Heritage Committee and included as Annex II to this document.
Decides that it enter immediately into effect, with the exception of Rule 13.1. and for which the following transition provisions will be used:
At the beginning of its 27th ordinary session (Suzhou, June/July 2003), the World Heritage Committee will elect a Bureau whose term will start at that session until the opening of the 28th ordinary session of the Committee (June 2004);
At the beginning of its 28th ordinary session (June/July ...
6 EXT.COM 4
Policy and legal issues concerning inscription of properties on the List of Lorld Leritage in Danger and the potential deletion of properties from the World Heritage List
The World Heritage Committee,
Decides to maintain in the revised Operational Guidelines existing text from the July 2002 Operational Guidelines concerning:
reactive monitoring (paragraph 68),
the development of a programme of corrective measures (paragraphs 22, 46b, 86, 87 and 89),
inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger (paragraphs 80-93) and,
possible deletion from the World Heritage List (paragraphs 46-56).
Requests the World Heritage Centre to re-order the text in the revised Operational Guidelines to ensure a logical and consistent presentation of the ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Taking note of the proposal by the Belgian Delegation (presented in Figure 1 of document WHC-02/CONF.202/15) for the preparation of a compilation of World Heritage Basic Texts like the Basic Texts of UNESCO and of the positive comments on this proposal received from States Parties in responses to Circular Letter CL/WHC.12/02 concerning the revision of the Rules of Procedure;
Requests the World Heritage Centre, to prepare an outline and publication plan (including budget) for a compilation of World Heritage Basic Texts in English and French (to include the ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Taking into account the proposal made by the World Heritage Centre to prepare a handbook on the World Heritage Convention similar to the Handbook on the Convention of Biological Diversity presented during the 26th ordinary session of the Committee, Budapest, 2002 (document WHC-02/CONF.202/15, section VII, paragraphe 36);
Invites the World Heritage Centre, in consultation with interested States Parties and the Advisory Bodies, to develop an outline, publication plan (including budget and potential publisher) and a proposal for financing a Handbook on the ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Requests the World Heritage Centre to ensure that all future publications of the World Heritage List indicate the criteria according to which properties were inscribed on the List using the new numbering system for the combined criteria (i) to (x).
The World Heritage Committee,
Decides that the proposed World Heritage Visual Identity will not be included on the agenda for the 27th session of the World Heritage Committee (Suzhou, June/July 2003).
6 EXT.COM 5.1
Revision Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Thanking the Drafting Group and all other experts, representatives of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre for work accomplished to date on the revision of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention;
2. Taking note of the Report of the March 2002 Drafting Group on the Revision of the Operational Guidelines presented as document WHC-03/6 EXT.COM/INF.5A;
3. Considering that the 3rd Draft Revised Operational Guidelines presented in document WHC-03/6 ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Welcomes the proposed structure which reflects the Strategic Objectives adopted by the Committee at its 26th ordinary session (Budapest, 2002) and that it is coherent with the structure of the budget proposed in the Draft Programme and Budget of UNESCO, 2004-2005 (32 C/5);
Thanks the Working group and the World Heritage Centre for their constructive and collaborative proposal for a new budget structure of the World Heritage Fund;
Adopts the revised Budget Structure consisting of Tables 1, 2 and 3 and Attachments 1 to 5, and included as Annex III to this ...
The World Heritage Committee,
Takes note of the list of all nominations received by the World Heritage Centre between 28 January 2002 and 1 February 2003 as presented in document WHC-03/6 EXT.COM/7 Rev;
Decides that the 32 new nominations determined by the World Heritage Centre to be complete by 1 February 2003 and four additional nominations for which the Centre had asked for guidance from the Committee be transmitted to the Advisory Bodies for evaluation.
Requests the World Heritage Centre to assist States Parties who have submitted incomplete nominations to make them complete for ...
6 EXT.COM 8.1
The World Heritage Committee,
Adopts the decisions presented in document WHC-03/6 EXT.COM/8, with amendments as agreed;
6 EXT.COM 8.2
The World Heritage Committee,
Takes note of the draft Summary Record of the 6th extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee prepared as information document WHC-03/6 EXT.COM/INF.8 ;
Requests the participants to send corrections to their own statements in writing to the World Heritage Centre by Friday, 28 March ...
The 6th extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee was closed on 22 March 2003 by the Chairperson, Mr Tamás Fejérdy (Hungary). He thanked the Committee for its work, all those who had participated, prepared and organised the session, underscoring the important outcomes. He also thanked the Spanish authorities for providing interpretation into Spanish.
Finally, the Chairperson made reference to the ongoing war in Iraq. Recalling the Committee's responsibilities to follow the situation closely, he assured the Committee that he and the World Heritage Centre would keep them ...
The General Assembly, 1. Elected H.E. Mr Ahmad Jalali (Islamic Republic of Iran) as Chairperson of the 14th General Assembly, 2. Elected Ms Alissandra Cummins (Barbados) as Rapporteur of the 14th General Assembly, 3. Elected France, Nigeria, and Uganda as Vice-Chairpersons of the 14th General Assembly.
The General Assembly, 1. Decides to amend Rule 2.1 of its Rules of Procedure to read:
2.1 The representatives of Member States of UNESCO not parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural heritage and permanent observer missions to UNESCO may participate in the work of the Assembly as observers, without the right to vote, and subject to Rule 7.3.
The General Assembly, 1. Decides to amend Rule 10.1 of its Rules of Procedure to read:
10.1 The working languages of the Assembly shall be Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
14 GA 4.1
New voting mechanism and revision of procedures for election of the members of the World Herittage Committee
The General Assembly, 1. Taking into consideration the decision of the 27th session of the World Heritage Committee on the new voting mechanism and revision of the procedures for election of the members of the World Heritage Committee (decision 27 COM 18A.4), 2. Decides not to amend Rule 13 of its Rules of Procedure on the election of members of the World Heritage Committee.
14 GA 4.2
New voting mechanism and revision of procedures for election of the members of the World Herittage Committee
The General Assembly, 1. Noting the decision of the 27th session of the World Heritage Committee on procedures for the presentation of candidatures to the World Heritage Committee (decision 27 COM 18A.2), 2. Decides to include the following text as new Rule 13 - Procedures for the presentation of candidatures to the World Heritage Committee[1] :
13.1 The Secretariat shall ask all States Parties, at least three months prior to the opening of the General Assembly, whether they intend to stand for election to the World Heritage Committee. If so, its candidature should be sent to the ...
14 GA 5
Report of the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee on the activities of the World Heritage Committee
The General Assembly, 1. Having examined the financial situation of the World Heritage Fund and the contribution of UNESCO to the activities of the World Heritage Centre as planned in the 32 C/5, 2. Recognizing the need to increase the financial resources from the UNESCO Regular Budget for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, 3. Recalling Decision 27 COM 11 of the World Heritage Committee at its 27th session (Paris, 2003), 4. Recalling its wish that the 32nd General Conference allocate an additional US$ 1 million for activities directed at the implementation of the World ...
14 GA 6
Examination of the statement of accounts of the World Heritage Fund, including the status of the States Parties' contributions
The General Assembly, 1. Having examined the accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period ending 31 December 2001 (see Section I of document WHC-03/14.GA/INF.6) in conformity with the Financial Regulations of the World Heritage Fund that stipulate that the accounts of the Fund shall be submitted to the General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention (Article 6, paragraph 6.4), 2. Approves the accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period ending 31 December 2001; 3. Takes note of the accounts of the World Heritage Fund for 2002, approved by the ...
The General Assembly,
1. Recalling Decision 27 COM 11.3 of the World Heritage Committee which urges States Parties in arrears to pay their overdue contributions to the World Heritage Fund and invites the Director-General to report to it on this matter,
2. Takes note of document WHC-03/14.GA/INF.7 Rev. on the Statement of compulsory and voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund.
14 GA 7.1
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
The General Assembly, 1. Decides to set at 1% the percentage for the calculation of the amount of the contributions to be paid to the World Heritage Fund by States Parties for the financial period 2004-2005; 2. Invites the Director-General to encourage States Parties to supplement their contributions to the World Heritage Fund with voluntary donations.
The General Assembly,
Recalling Decision 27 COM 11.3 of the World Heritage Committee which urges States Parties in arrears to pay their overdue contributions to the World Heritage Fund and invites the Director-General to report to it on this matter,
Takes note of document WHC-03/14.GA/INF.7 Rev. on the Statement of compulsory and voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund.
The General Assembly,
Welcomes the adoption by the 26th session of the World Heritage Committee of new Strategic Objectives that include the strengthening of the Credibility of the World Heritage List and the development of effective Capacity-building measures;
Notes the progress report on the implementation of the Global Strategy for a credible, representative and balanced World Heritage List presented in documents WHC-03/14.GA/8 and WHC-03/27.COM/13;
Also notes that the 28th session of the World Heritage Committee (Suzhou, China, June-July 2004) will evaluate the 1994 Global ...
The General Assembly,
Elects Kuwait (State Party without properties on the World Heritage List) as a member of the World Heritage Committee,
Elects the following seven States Parties as members of the World Heritage Committee: Benin, Chile, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.
The General Assembly did not discuss any other business.
The Bureau of the World Heritage Committee approves the following International Assistance requests as amended with the comments of the Bureau:
PREPARATORY ASSISTANCE
27 BUR 1.1 CULTURAL (Niger) Consultation meeting in view of the inscription of the "The Great Salt Roads" on the World Heritage List
US$ 30,000 for funding in 2003
The Bureau of the World Heritage Committee approves the following International Assistance requests as amended with the comments of the Bureau:
TRAINING
27 BUR 1.2 CULTURAL (Russian Federation) Organization of an International Training Workshop for cultural heritage Specialists of the CIS and the Baltic States involved in the preparation of the Periodic Reporting
US$ 29,390 for funding in 2003.
The World Heritage Committee,1. In conformity with Rule 8 (Observers) of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee,2. Accepts the presence of the following international governmental organizations (IGOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals, who have requested Observer participation at the session:Mr Julian Laird, Earthwatch Institute, Europe; Ms Maria Isabel Correa Kanan, IPHAN, Brazil; Ms Jessica Douglas-Home and Mr Georges Zouain, The Mihai Emisecu Trust, U.K.;Mr Haruhisa Furuta and Mrs Mami Furuta, The Setouchi ...
The World Heritage Committee,1. Adopts the agenda as proposed in document WHC-03/27.COM/2 Prov.2;2. Noting that the 6th extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee adopted a decision on item 14A (Nominations to be examined in 2004 and 2005) (see Decision 6 EXT.COM 7), 3. Further noting that following Decision 26 COM 26, item 21 (Provisional agenda of the 28th session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee (April 2004)) is no longer applicable,4. Decides to take note of the following documents: WHC-03/27.COM/15 (Ways and Means to reinforce the implementation of the ...
The World Heritage Committee, 1. Recalling the changes in circumstances which have resulted in the 27th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2003 taking place at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, rather than in Suzhou, China,2. Noting that in view of the above, the transitional provisions relating to the election of the Bureau found in Decision 6 EXT.COM 3, can no longer be applied,3. Decides to elect, on an exceptional basis, a Bureau with the following composition: a) Ms Vera Lacoeuilhe (Saint Lucia) as Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee for the duration of the 27th session of ...
The World Heritage Committee,1. Notes with appreciation the Report of the Rapporteur on the 6th extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee in 2003;2. Requests the World Heritage Centre, in order to facilitate the implementation of its decisions and to better plan and manage its workload during future sessions, to prepare a "Directory of Decisions by deadline" according to the model as proposed by the Rapporteur attached as an aAnnexx XX in to the Summary Record (WHC-03/27.COM/INF.24);3. Further requests the World Heritage Centre in order to ensure an institutional ...
The World Heritage Committee, 1. Taking note of the Report of the Secretariat as presented in document WHC-03/27.COM/5,2. Recalling the need for the Committee to be kept informed on the implementation of its decisions, 3. Invites the Secretariat to present to the Committee, at each of its ordinary ordinary sessions, a "Report on the Implementation of the Decisions taken by the World Heritage Committee". This Report will replace the Secretariat Report.
27 COM 5.2
Implementation of the Decisions concerning the protection of the cultural heritage of the Palestinian Territories
The World Heritage Committee, 1. Having taken note of the information concerning the threats to the archaeological property of Tell Rumeida, in the Palestinian Territories,2. Requests the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to carry out a mission to the property to examine its state of conservation at the earliest possible time, within the scope of Decision 26 COM 6.1 concerning the protection of the cultural heritage in the Palestinian Territories, and submit a report to the World Heritage Committee at its 28th session in 2004;3. Appeals to all concerned parties to ensure that ...
The World Heritage Committee,1. Expresses its sincere appreciation to the Asia-Pacific States Parties, the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies for their collaboration over the past 6 years that led to the successful preparation of the comprehensive "Synthesis Regional Periodic Report for the Asia-Pacific Region 2003";2. Takes note of the sub-regional and regional recommendations and action plans proposed in the "Synthesis Regional Periodic Report for the Asia-Pacific Region 2003", which were elaborated by the States Parties together with the World Heritage ...
27 COM 6B
Follow-up to Periodic Reporting in the Arab States and Africa ; Preparations in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Europe and North America
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Requests the World Heritage Centre to produce a publication within three months, if possible, to be funded from extrabudgetary funds, on the Arab States Periodic Report carried out in the year 2000 and information on the follow-up actions. This publication is also to be made available through electronic or other appropriate means (CD-Rom and/or on the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's web site);
2. Notes the progress made to date in the preparation for the Periodic Reporting in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Europe and North ...
The World Heritage Committee, 1. Reiterates its serious concern for the state of conservation of this property and the need for increased international support and co-operation, including that between the Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan; 2. Requests that the State Party take all necessary measures to halt mining along the Manovo River in order to minimize negative impacts of mining on the integrity of the Park and confirm in writing the outcome of the measures taken; 3. Recommends that IUCN and the World Heritage Centre, in co-operation with the State Party, urgently undertake a ...
The World Heritage Committee,1. Expresses its serious concerns about the continuing threats of poaching in all properties and encroachments and cattle farming in Virunga; 2. Commends international conservation NGOs, the UNESCO/DRC/UNF (United Nations Foundation) Project and the Governments of Germany and Belgium for their commitment to support staff of the properties and to mobilize necessary financial and human resources needed to mitigate threats to the integrity of the five properties; 3. Invites the new National Unity Government of the State Party to commit itself to protecting the ...
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Commends the State Party on actions undertaken during the past year to improve the conservation of the Simien National Park World Heritage property;
2. Recommends that the State Party continue implementing the positive measures mentioned in its report until significant on-the-ground conservation improvements are evident;
3. Recommends that IUCN, using expertise from its Species Survival Commission and in co-operation with the State Party, takes measures to verify the increase in the population estimates of Walia Ibex and Simien Fox reported by the State ...
Sites: Simien National Park
The World Heritage Committee,1. Expresses concern that the political turmoil in Côte d'Ivoire has led to the suspension of operations of the Mount Nimba ecosystem conservation project in Côte d'Ivoire and has compelled some of the NGO partners to withdraw staff from the area;2. Commends Fauna and Flora International on its commitment to continue co-operation with the Guinean State Party in addressing the refugee crisis and developing a long-term management project;3. Commends the Centre de Gestion de l'Environnement des Monts Nimba (CEGEN) for its important role in promoting and managing ...
The World Heritage Committee, 1. Expresses its serious concerns regarding the lack of clarity on the information received on the vehicles provided with financial assistance from the World Heritage Fund and reported stolen, and reiterates its request from the 26th session of the Committee in 2002, that the State Party report on the above issue and on progress made in the implementation of the rehabilitation plan; 2. Requests IUCN and the World Heritage Centre, in co-operation with the State Party, to undertake a mission to the property and carry out a systematic assessment and to submit a ...
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Congratulates the State Party and associated partners for their efforts to control Salvinia molesta in a cost effective manner;
2. Notes that savings made in the project funds are being used for strengthening State Party capacity to protect the property and implement measures benefiting the conservation of waterfowl;
3. Requests the State Party to continue co-operating with IUCN, the World Heritage Centre, the Ramsar Convention Secretariat and other relevant partners in carrying out an urgent assessment of the scale and threat of Typha australis and ...
The World Heritage Committee,1. Noting that IUCN believes that the property's conditions have improved substantially since it was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1999 and that the State Party is showing increased commitment to the conservation of the property,2. Commends the Uganda Wildlife Authority for the improvements to the management of the property and their efforts to protect the property in times of instability;3. Invites the State Party to consider according a greater level of financial support to ensure the minimum level of effective property management, ...