The Tenth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural heritage was held in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters, on 2 and 3 November 1995, during the 28th session of the General Conference.
One hundred and nineteen States Parties to the Convention were represented at the meeting.
Representatives of two non-governmental organizations and the European Communities Commission attended the meeting as observers. Several other observers were also present.
In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, the UNESCO ...
5. In his opening address, the Deputy Director-General, representing the Director-General, evoked the progress made in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention to which 143 States Parties now adhered; since the eighteenth session of the Committee, 440 properties situated in 100 States Parties were now inscribed on the World Heritage List.
He emphasized that the desire to preserve the diversity of cultural and natural heritage has made it possible to accomplish noteworthy actions and to strengthen the feeling of belonging to a world community working towards greater tolerance, ...
6. The General Assembly elected by acclamation Mr Kronfol (Lebanon) as President. The General Assembly also elected unanimously representatives of Brazil, Niger and Japan as Vice-Presidents, and Mr. J. Jelen (Hungary) as Rapporteur.
7. After having moved to item 9 of the draft agenda the examination of new monitoring activities and to item 10 elections to the World Heritage Committee, the General Assembly adopted its draft agenda. 8. Following a point of order on the part of Slovenia, which recalled a resolution of the UN Security Council and a decision of the UNESCO General Conference, and after having heard the advice of the Legal Advisor, the General Assembly decided that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) could not participate in this tenth session.
9. In accordance with the recommendation made by the World Heritage Committee at its eighteenth session, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr Adul Wichiencharoen (Thailand) presented to the General Assembly the report which the Committee was submitting to the UNESCO General Conference. The text of Dr. Wichiencharoen's presentation, as well as the Committee's Report to the General Conference, is presented in Annex I to this document. The General Assembly took note of this report.
10. The General Assembly examined the Document WHC-95/CONF.204/3 concerning the budgetary situation of the World Heritage Fund, in accordance with the Financial Regulations of the Fund. The situation concerning contributions up to 28 October 1995, replacing Document WHC-95/CONF.204/3 Add., was also distributed during the session. The Assembly was further informed that the following contributions had been received since 28 October 1995:
State Party
Amount (US $)
Year of contribution
Algeria
10,768
balance 1993, 1994 and ...
10 GA 12
Determination of the amount of the contributions to the World Heritage Fund in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Convention
12. The General Assembly unanimously decided that the amount of mandatory contributions to the World Heritage Fund for the period 1996-1997, calculated in US dollars, would be maintained at 1 percent of contributions made by States Parties to the Regular Programme of UNESCO, in accordance with Article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention, as had been decided by the nine previous General Assemblies.
10 GA 13-14
Proposed procedural changes for the election to the World Heritage Committee ¬Proposed amendment to the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly
13. The President then explained for which reasons it was proposed to simplify the procedure in force for the election of members to the World Heritage Committee, in order to avoid an excessive number of ballots. This simplification, contained in the proposed amendments to Rules 13.8, 13.9 and 13.10 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly (cf. Document WHC-95/CONF.204/5), would comprise four ballots with absolute majority and at the fifth ballot a simple majority, and in the event of two or more candidates obtaining the same number of votes, to proceed by drawing lots.14. The ...
15. This agenda item was introduced by the Chairman of the World Heritage Committee, Dr Adul Wichiencharoen (Thailand), who summarized the contents of his report on this subject as reflected in Working Document WHC-95/CONF.204/7 (see note [1] ) and the proposed resolution that had been prepared by him for this General Assembly (WHC95/CONF.204/DR.1). He recalled that the World Heritage Committee, after a long process of consultations, discussions and practical experiences in several States Parties and regions, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, decided, at its eighteenth ...
34. Under item 10 of its agenda, the General Assembly was called upon to elect seven members to the World Heritage Committee, to replace the following seven members whose mandate would expire at the end of the twenty-eighth session of the General Conference: Colombia, Indonesia, Oman, Peru, Senegal, Syrian Arab Republic and Thailand. Following the withdrawal of its candidature by Nigeria, as well as that of Colombia which withdrew in favour of Ecuador, the list of twenty-eight States Parties having submitted their candidature was read to the General Assembly: Algeria, Argentina, ...
43. The Representative of Germany informed the General Assembly that the nineteenth session of the World Heritage Committee would be held in his country, in Berlin, and invited all States Parties to attend.44. The Representative of Mexico and the Representative of Italy both proposed to host in their countries the twentieth session of the World Heritage Committee. The General Assembly thanked these two States for their generous invitations and decided that the question would be examined during the nineteenth session of the Committee.45. No other question having been raised under the item ...
The Bureau recalled that the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1983 and placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992. A report was presented by the State Party on their restoration efforts at the last session of the Bureau. Two small-scale international assistance projects from the World Heritage Fund are presently under way at the site, as well asinternational assistance from other sources. On 29 June 1995 the World Heritage Centre received a report prepared by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Bulgaria recalling the history of the site and the ...
Sites: Srebarna Nature Reserve
The Bureau recalled that the site was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992. Missions to the site were carried out in 1992 and 1993. The situation remains critical due to armed conflict and the political situation in the region which remains unchanged. The Committee at its eighteenth session decided to retain the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger and another fact-finding mission to this area, particularly to the Korkaova Uvala Virgin Forest is to be scheduled for 1995-96. Given the continued armed conflict in the region, the Bureau recommended to the ...
Sites: Plitvice Lakes National Park
The Bureau recalled that the site was inscribed in 1983 and placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992 due to threats from poachers, boundary encroachment and unplanned road construction. A technical assistance project from the World Heritage Fund is underway. The equipment component of this project was carried out in 1994. Furthermore, the World Heritage Centre received in March 1995 a preliminary report by INEFAN (Instituto Ecuatoriano Forestal y de Are-as Naturales y Viola Silvestre) on the environmental impact of the construction of the Guamote-Macas road in the Park and a ...
Sites: Sangay National Park
The Bureau recalled that the site was included on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992 because of a proposed iron-ore mining project and threats due to the arrival of a large number of refugees from neighboring countries. An expert mission was undertaken in 1993 and proposals to revise the boundaries of the site were endorsed by the seventeenth session of the Committee in 1993. An international assistance project under the World Heritage Fund was recently carried out in 1994, and a report was presented to the eighteenth session of the World Heritage Committee. The French Ministry ...
The Bureau recalled that at its eighteenth session, the World Heritage Committee took note of the information provided by the Indian Government through the Permanent Delegate that "if the representatives of the World Heritage Centre and of the World Heritage Committee desire to visit New Delhi, Assam and Manas for discussion, or see the site" then they "would be welcomed by the concerned authorities of the Government of India". In the same letter the Indian authorities also indicated that the Indian Government will involve local level NGOs in monitoring the state of conservation of the ...
Sites: Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
The Bureau recalled that the site was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1993 due to an increasing number of threats since the date of its inscription on the List in 1979. Federal State and local governments as well as private foundations have joined forces in providing significant financial support for the management of the site and for its long-term restoration. The Committee took note of a detailed report prepared by the American authorities which was presented at its eighteenth session.
The World Heritage Centre received a monitoring report from the National Park ...
Sites: Everglades National Park
Virunga National Park, inscribed under criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv) in 1979, was included in the List of World Heritage in Danger at the last session of the World Heritage Committee in December 1994, due to the tragic events in Rwanda and the subsequent massive arrival of refugees from that country. Virunga National Park, situated at the border between Rwanda and Uganda, has been destabilized by the uncontrolled arrival of refugees, causing deforestation and poaching at the sites. The Bureau recalled that the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee approved a total of US$ 50,000 ...
Sites: Virunga National Park
The Bureau recalled that this mixed site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982 and that the Bureau at its eighteenth session in July 1994, discussed reports received on logging operations in areas adjacent to the World Heritage area. IUCN gave an update on the situation and recalled two concerns which were raised: that there is forested land outside the site which may have World Heritage values, and furthermore that adverse impact on the existing World Heritage site could result from logging and reading activities adjacent to the site. IUCN noted that both the 1990 and 1994 ...
Sites: Tasmanian Wilderness
The Bureau recalled that the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988 and was the subject of a monitoring report at the sixteenth session of the Committee held in Santa Fe. At that time the management regime had collapsed and the site was under numerous threats. It was recommended that the World Heritage Centre should carry out a mission to the site. Unstable conditions continued to prevail throughout 1993 and into 1994.
In 1994 a new government took office and the French company, "Compagnie Generale d'Aéronautique-CGA” decided to move forward with a significant ...