The Eighth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage met in Paris, on 2 November 1991, during the twenty-sixth session of the General Conference.
Eighty-one out of the hundred and seventeen States which were Parties to the Convention as at 31 October 1991 and which had the right to vote were represented at the meeting. A State having just ratified the Convention was also present.
Representatives of ten States not Parties to the Convention participated in the General Assembly as observers. Representatives of ...
7. The General Assembly elected by acclamation Mr Adul Wichiencharoen (Thailand) as Chairman. The General Assembly also unanimously elected the representatives of Brazil, Morocco, Pakistan, and Senegal as Vice-Chairmen, and Ms Catherine Delaporta (Greece) as Rapporteur.
8. The agenda of the session was unanimously adopted after inversion of items 7 and 8 of the provisional agenda.
12. When examining item 7 of the agenda concerning the means of ensuring an equitable representation of different regions and cultures of the world on the World Heritage Committee, the Assembly expressed the wish to be presented regularly with the charts prepared by the Secretariat: one presenting for each State Party the periods during which they have been members of the Committee, the other showing the distribution of Member States of the Committee according to the different regions. One delegate recalled that the seventh General Assembly had questioned the opportunity of increasing the ...
13. Under item 8 of its agenda the General Assembly was called on to elect seven Members to the World Heritage Committee to replace the following seven Members who would have completed their term of office at the end of the twenty-sixth session of the General Conference: Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, India, Mexico, United Republic of Tanzania, and Yemen. The list of States Parties having submitted their candidature was read out to the Assembly. In accordance with Article 16, paragraph 5, of the Convention, the list of candidates was limited to those States Parties which had paid their ...
18. Under item 9 of the agenda "Other business", the representative of Mauritania seconded by another delegate requested that the summary record of the debates mention his regret at the fact that the elections had not in the least improved the geographical distribution, which was recognized by everyone to be necessary. Indeed, no African State south of the Sahara had been elected, and this region was thus represented on the Committee by only one State.It was furthermore suggested that the Secretariat prepare for the next General Assembly a revised project of its Rules of Procedure with ...
19. The Chairman drew the attention of the delegates on a draft amendment, presented by 48 Member States of UNESCO, concerning the "Reinforcement of the Action of UNESCO for the Protection of the World Cultural Heritage" which was later submitted to the General Conference in plenary. He then said he was pleased with the positive attitude which had emerged during the debates and declared the eighth General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Committee closed.