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 ...