The General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention

1. How many Committee members are there?

There are 21 Committee members represented by 21 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention .

2. When do the elections take place?

Elections to replace outgoing Committee members take place during the General Assembly of States Parties, meeting once every two years during the General Conference of UNESCO (Article 8.1 of the Convention ).

The 19th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will take place during the 37th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in 2013.

3. How long is the mandate of a Committee member?

According to the Convention , a Committee member's mandate is for six years, but most States Parties choose voluntarily to be Members of the Committee for only four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to be on the Committee (see Resolution 13 GA 9 in Document WHC-2001/CONF.206/8 Rev page 13).

The footnote of Rule 13 of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly indicates that Resolution 13 GA 9 (paragraph 6) invites the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention to voluntarily reduce their term of office from six to four years. 

4. How many new Committee members are elected at each General Assembly?

Usually a third of the 21 members need to be newly elected at the General Assembly (i.e. 7 Committee members ), but this can change depending on the voluntary reduction of office terms.

5. How many seats are available at the 19th General Assembly in 2013?

In 2013, a total of 12 Committee members will be elected.

6. Can an existing Committee member present a candidature during the year when their mandate is finishing?

According to Rule 13.2 of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly, members of the World Heritage Committee may stand  again for election after a gap of 4 years after the expiry of their mandate.

7. Is there a geographical distribution of Committee members (i.e. quotas)?

As per Rules 14.1 b) and d) of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly,in case one or more electoral group(s), as defined by the UNESCO General Conference at its most recent session, might have no State Party in the composition of the next Committee, one seat per such electoral group(s) shall be reserved. Ballot(s) for reserved seat(s) shall precede the ballot(s) for the remaining seats to be filled. Unsuccessful candidates in a ballot for any reserved seat shall be eligible to stand for election in subsequent ballot(s).

There are no quotas. However, States Parties, as far as possible, should try to comply with Article 8 (2) of the World Heritage Convention , which states that "Election of members of the Committee shall ensure an equitable representation of the different regions and cultures of the world".  

8. What is the deadline by which a State Party should submit its candidature?

As per Rule 13.1 of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly, candidature should be sent to the Secretariat at least six weeks prior to the opening of the General Assembly.

Candidatures should be sent to the following address:

The Director
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
7 place de Fontenoy
75352 Paris 07 SP, France
Tel: +33 (0) 1 45 68 13 15
Fax: +33 (0) 1 45 68 55 70

9. Is there a special provision for States Parties with no properties on the World Heritage List?

As per Rules 14.1 c) and d) of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly, at each election, one seat shall be reserved for States Parties with no property on the World Heritage List.

Ballot(s) for reserved seat shall precede the ballot(s) for the remaining seats to be filled. Unsuccessful candidates in a ballot for any reserved seat shall be eligible to stand for election in subsequent ballot(s).

10. How many voting rounds are there? What happens when two States Parties obtain equal votes?

Please refer to Rule 14 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly: "Election of the members of the World Heritage Committee" 

11. Who are the Committee members now?

Until the end of the 37th General Conference (2013), the following States Parties are members of the Committee:

Algeria, Cambodia, Colombia, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Qatar, Russian Federation, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates

12. Which members are leaving in 2013?

Cambodia, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Mali, Iraq, Mexico, Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates

13. Which members will leave in 2015?

Algeria, Colombia, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Senegal, Serbia

14. How can I access the related reference documents of past statutory meetings : Committee Reports; General Assembly Summary Records; Rules of Procedure, etc.?

All relevant documentation is available at the following web address : http://whc.unesco.org/en/documents   (select the year, the session, the document reference or the title of the document ....)