The General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention

As per Article 8(1) of the World Heritage Convention (or Rule 49 of the Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee ), the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention meets during the sessions of the General Conference of UNESCO.

The General Assembly manages its meetings according to its Rules of Procedure(see document reference WHC-23/GA/1). Both the General Assembly and General Conference of UNESCO receive a report from the World Heritage Committee on its activities(Rule 49 of the Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee).

The 25th session of the General Assembly

During its session, the General Assembly determines the uniform percentage of contributions to the World Heritage Fund applicable to all States Parties (Article 16(1) of the World Heritage Convention), and elects members to the World Heritage Committee.

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FAQs about the election of World Heritage Committee members

How many Committee members are there?

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

Who are the Committee members in 2025 before the elections?

Since the end of the 42nd General Conference (2023), the following States Parties are members of the Committee:

Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Türkiye, Ukraine, Viet Nam, Zambia

Which members are leaving in 2027?

Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Türkiye, Ukraine, Viet Nam

Which members will leave in 2025?

Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Zambia

When do the elections take place?

Elections to replace outgoing Committee members take place during the General Assembly of States Parties, meeting every two years during the General Conference of UNESCO (Article 8.3of the Convention ).

The 24th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will take place during the 42th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, 22-23 November 2023.

How long is the mandate of a Committee member?

According to the Convention, a Committee member's mandate is for 6 years.

The General Assembly (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.

How many seats are available at the 25th General Assembly in 2025?

In 2025, a total of 12 Committee members will be elected.

Can a State Party stand for election only to open seats (non allocated) ?

Rule 35.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly foresees that “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” and that “ the list of candidates shall be finalized 48 hours before the opening of the General Assembly”. Rule 35.2 (f) provides that “ballot(s) for allocated seat(s) shall precede the ballot(s) for the remaining seats to be filled” and that “unsuccessful candidates in a ballot for any allocated seat shall be eligible to stand for election in subsequent ballot(s)”.

A candidature is submitted for a vacant seat without distinction of whether these seats are allocated seats or open seats. It follows that the Rules of procedure do not foresee the possibility for a State Party to submit a candidature only for an open seat in the World Heritage Committee when allocated seats are vacant.

In addition, only those candidates that have been unsuccessful in a ballot for allocated seats (because they have not been elected) or candidates from an electoral group for which there is no vacant allocated seat at the session may stand for election for an open seat. This procedure does not allow for candidates to stand for election only for open seats when allocated seats are vacant for their respective electoral group.

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

According to Rule 35.1 (b) of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly, members of the World Heritage Committee may stand again for election after a gap of 6 years after the expiry of their mandate.

Is there a geographical distribution of Committee members?

Following the 1st Extraordinary Session (UNESCO, 2014), the General Assembly amended its Rules of Procedures in order to achieve the goal of an equitable geographical and cultural representation on the World Heritage Committee, through the allocation of seats by region (defined with reference to UNESCO’s electoral groups) on the World Heritage Committee.

For more details please refer to Article 14 of the Rules of Procedures.

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

As per Rule 35.1 (a) of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly, candidatures should be sent to the Secretariat at least six weeks prior to the opening of the General Assembly.

As per Rule 35.1 (a), this list of candidatures shall be finalised 48 hours before the opening of the General Assembly. No other candidatures nor payments of compulsory and voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund (for the purpose of presenting a candidature to the Committee) will be accepted in the 48-hour period 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

As per article 16.5 of the Convention:

"Any State Party to the Convention which is in arrears with the payment of its compulsory or voluntary contribution for the current year and the calendar year immediately preceding it shall not be eligible as a Member of the World Heritage Committee, although this provision shall not apply to the first election."

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

No, there is no provision.

Is there a special provision for States Parties which have never served as a member of the World Heritage Committee?

The Rules of Procedure adopted by the General Assembly inNovember 2014 state that “at each election, due consideration shall be given to the election of at least one State Party which has never served as a Member of the World Heritage Committee" (Rule 35.2 (d)).

See Statistics on States Parties.

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

Please refer to Rule 35.2 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly: "Election of the members of the World Heritage Committee"

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

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

What would happen if an allocated seat remained vacant because an electoral group has fewer candidates than the number of seats it is entitled to?

With regard to the number of candidatures presented by an electoral group, it is worth recalling Resolution 1 EXT.GA 3 on the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly (in 2014), by which the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention "reiterate[d] its strong request to States Parties and electoral groups to provide a sufficient number of candidates for each seat and each election to ensure a genuine choice at each election.”

Nevertheless, in the event that an electoral group presents fewer candidates than seats allocated to that group, the General Assembly should be informed at the beginning of the session, and before the elections begin, so that the General Assembly can take a decision on the seat(s) that will remain vacant: allocation within the open seats, allocation to another electoral group, etc. Indeed, Rule 35.2 (e) of the Rules of Procedure stipulates that "[i]n case the above formula [note: formula describing the distribution of seats within electoral groups] cannot be practically applied, an exceptional arrangement may be made to accommodate such special circumstances." In any event, the remaining vacant seat(s) shall be filled at the same session and not at subsequent elections, the Committee being composed of 21 members.

Can States Parties vote by proxy for the election of World Heritage Committee members?

It should be noted that the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention do not contain any provision allowing voting by proxy. Consequently, voting by proxy is not possible during the sessions of the General Assembly.