World Heritage Centre

6 COM I.1 Introduction

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 13 Dec 1982 00:00:00 EST

The sixth session of the World Heritage Committee which was held at Unesco Headquarters in Paris from 13 to 17 December 1982 was attended by the following States Members of the World Heritage Committee : Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Guinea, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Nepal, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal, Switzerland, Tunisia, the United States of America and Zaire.

6 COM I.2 Introduction

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Representatives of the International Centre for Conservation in Rome (ICCROM), the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and the International Union for Conservation of Na- ture and Natural Resources (IUCN) attended the meeting in an ad- visory capacity.

6 COM I.3 Introduction

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Observers from 18 States Parties to the Convention not members of the Committee, namely Afghanistan, Algeria, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Mauri- tania, Morocco, Niger, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka and Syrian Arab Republic also participated in the session, as well as observers from two intergovernmental organizations, the Arab Educational, Cul- tural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Council of Europe, and three international non-governmental organizations, the Interna- tional Council of Museums (ICOM), the International Union of Archi- tects (IUA) and the Organization for Museums, Monuments and Sites of Africa (OMMSA). Nine States not Parties to the Convention demonstrat- ed their interest in the implementation of the Convention by sending representatives to follow the work of the Committee. The full list of participants will be found in Annex I to this report.

6 COM II.4 Opening of the session

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The meeting was declared open by the outgoing Chairman, Professor R.O. Slatyer (Australia) who welcomed the delegates and observers. The Chairman recalled the conditions in which it had been decided that the meeting would be held in Paris and expressed the regret he shared with the authorities of Pakistan that it had not been possible to hold the sixth session of the Committee in Pakistan.

6 COM II.5 Opening of the session

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In his welcome address on behalf of the Director-General, Mr.Makaminan Makagiansar, Assistant Director-General for Culture,once again drew attention to the importance of the role of the Committee. He referred to the World Conference on Cultural Policies (Mexico City, August 1982), to the IUCN World National Parks Congress (Bali, October 1982) and to the Extraordinary Session of the General Conference of Unesco (Paris, November 1982), at which special attention was called to the safeguarding of the cultural and natural heritage. After having assured the Committee of the interest taken in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention by the Director- General of Unesco, Mr. Amadou Mahtar-M'Bow, he expressed his pleasure at the adherence to the Convention of eight new States, five of which are African States. Finally, he considered the situation of the World Heritage Fund and the budget to be very healthy.

6 COM II.6 Opening of the session

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The Chairman informed the Committee of requests he had received from organizations which did not have an official status of observer to meetings of the Committee that they should be allowed to address the Committee. The Secretariat explained the decisions which the Committee had taken at previous sessions when similar requests had been received, namely that such groups would not be authorized to address the Committee direct nor to circulate material in the meeting room and that they should be requested to contact their national delegations; since the meeting of the Committee was public, these groups could however attend as members of the general public. The Committee confirmed its previous decisions.

6 COM III.7 Adoption of the agenda

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The Committee adopted the agenda for the meeting.

6 COM IV.8-10 Election of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur

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8. Professor R.O. Slatyer (Australia) was re-elected Chairman of the Committee by acclamation, and gave a brief speech. Professor Slatyer informed the Committee that he would stand down from the Chair when the two Australian nominations were considered by the Com- mittee.

9. The Committee thereafter elected by acclamation the delegates of the following States members of the Committee : Argentina, Bulgaria, Guinea, Italy and Pakistan as Vice-Chairmen.

10. Mr. Azedine Beschaouch (Tunisia) was re-elected Rapporteur by acclamation.

6 COM IX.26 Guidelines for the inscription of cultural and natural properties on the list of World Heritage in Danger

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In introducing the draft guidelines which had been prepared jointly by IUCN and ICOMOS, the representative of IUCN drew attention to the following three objectives of the List of World Heritagein Danger:

a) to support national efforts towards safeguarding the integrity of a property;

b) to demonstrate to world opinion the reality of the danger threatening a property;

c) to contribute to the effectiveness of international fund-raising campaigns by identifying the property for which the public is being asked to contribute.

He stated that the list was considered as being a short list, thus limiting operations by the international community to a reasonable number. Furthermore, inscription of a property on the list would be an exceptional action for an emergency measure of limited duration.

6 COM IX.27 Guidelines for the inscription of cultural and natural properties on the list of World Heritage in Danger

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 13 Dec 1982 00:00:00 EST

During the discussion that ensued on the draft criteria and procedure for the inscription of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger, several amendments were suggested to the text in paragraph 5.5 of the IUCN/ICOMOS document which was proposed for insertion in the "Operational guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention". These amendments related to the difficulty of inscribing properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger when major operations were not required to protect the property and when the State concerned did not require assistance under the Convention. The Committee decided, however, to adapt the guidelines in their present form and to request the Bureau to examine the proposed amendments at its next meeting. The text of these guidelines is attached in Annex II.

6 COM V.11 Report on the sixth session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee

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The Rapporteur, Mr. A. Beschaouch, referred to the main points of the report on the sixth session of the Bureau of the Committee which was held in Paris from 21 to 24 June 1982. In particular, he drew attention to the twenty-four properties which had been recommended for inclusion in the World Heritage List and to the Bureau 's request to IUCN and ICOMOS to draw up draft guidelines for the inscription of cultural and natural properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger. He added that, in response to this request, a report was presented to the Committee by these two organizations on this question.

6 COM VI.12 Report of the Representative of the Director-General on activities undertaken since the fifth session of the World Heritage Committee

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In his report on the activities undertaken for the implementation of the Convention since the fifth session of the World Heritage Committee, the representative of the Director-General, Mr. Michel Batisse, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Science indicated that a total of sixty-nine States had now ratified, accepted or acceded to the Convention, and that one hundred and twelve properties nominated by thirty-three States Parties were now included in the World Heritage List. He reported on the activities which had been decided upon by the Committee at its fifth session and drew attention in particular to the training programme and to the various initiatives taken to produce and disseminate information material to a wide public. Finally, he indicated that the surplus in the World Heritage Fund as at 31 October 1982 amounted to over 2.3 million dollars. He considered that, despite some difficulties to be foreseen in the receipt of contributions, the overall situation of the Convention and of the Fund was satisfactory and constituted an excellent example of international co-operation in the present circumstances.

6 COM VII.13 Tentative Lists

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The Committee noted that, with the withdrawal by the Italian authorities of their list, only seven States Parties had so far submitted tentative lists of cultural and natural properties considered suitable for inclusion in the World Heritage List. The delegates of Argentina, Brazil and Italy indicated that tentative lists would soon be available for submission to the Committee.

6 COM VII.14 Tentative Lists

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It was noted furthermore that the lists submitted by India and Portugal referred to cultural properties only, and the Committee expressed the hope that similar lists would be prepared by these two States on natural heritage sites.

6 COM VII.15 Tentative Lists

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The delegate of the Federal Republic of Germany informed the Committee that a second list, comprising some fifty properties, which had been prepared in the light of the list submitted by the authorities of France, would shortly be available for submission to the Committee. This statement gave rise to remarks by the Rapporteur and the representative of ICOMOS on the desirability of discussion among States of the same cultural region before tentative lists are submitted. The Rapporteur also indicated that ALECSO was co-ordinat- ing the drawing up of tentative lists of cultural and natural proper- ties in the Arab States which are Parties to the Convention.

6 COM VII.16 Tentative Lists

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The Chairman drew attention to the availability of preparatory assistance to States Parties for the establishment of tentative lists

6 COM VII.18 Tentative Lists

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In concluding the discussion on this item, the Committee reiterated the request made at previous meetings that those States which had not so far submitted tentative lists should prepare lists and make them available as soon as possible for submission to the Committee.

6 COM VIII.19 Nominations to the World Heritage List

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Before the Committee examined the nominations to the World Heritage List, a series of slides on some of the cultural and natural properties nominated was shown by ICOMOS and IUCN. The Committee then took up one by one the nominations of those properties which the Bureau had recommended for inclusion in the World Heritage List. In each case the Committee was informed of the point of view of the Bureau as presented by the Rapporteur and took note of the comments of the representatives of ICOMOS and/or IUCN, who had made an evaluation of each property in relation to the criteria for the inscription of properties.

6 COM VIII.20 Nominations to the World Heritage List (inscribed sites)

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The Committee decided to enter in the World Heritage List the twenty-four cultural and natural properties which had been recommended by the Bureau:

Name of Property	Contracting State having submitted the nomination of the property in accordance with the Convention	Identification No.
Tassili n'Ajjer	Algeria	179
The M'Zab Valley	Algeria	188
Djemila	Algeria	191
Tipasa	Algeria	193
Timgad	Algeria	194
Western Tasmania Wilderness National Parks The Committee is seriously concerned at the likely effect of dam construction in the area on those natural and cultural characteristics which make the property of outstanding universal value. In particular, it considers that flooding of parts of the river valleys would destroy a number of cultural and natural features of great significance, as identified in the ICOMOS and IUCN reports. The Committee therefore recommends that the Australian authorities take all possible measures to protect the integrity of the property. The Committee suggests that the Australian authorities should ask the Committee to place the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger until the question of dam construction is resolved.	Australia	181
Lord Howe Island Group In view of the importance of Lord Howe Island as a World Heritage site, the World Heritage Committee suggests that steps be taken to replace the telecommunications towers as soon as satellite communications are available.	Australia	186
Historic Centre of the town of Olinda	Brazil	189
Old Havana and its Fortifications	Cuba	204
The Royal Saltworks of Arc et Senans	France	203
National History Park -Citadel, Sans Souci, Ramiers The Committee recommends that the Haitian authorities exercise the greatest care as regards the restoration and consolidation work on the entire site, which should be carried out in conformity with internationally recognized conservation standards.	Haiti	180
Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve	Honduras	196
The Historic Centre of Florence	Italy	174
Tai National Park	Ivory Coast	195
Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	183
Archaeological Site of Sabratha	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	184
Archaeological Site of Cyrene	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	190
Aldabra Atoll	Seychelles, Republic of	195
Sacred City of Anuradhapura	Sri Lanka	200
Ancient City of Polonnaruwa	Sri Lanka	201
Ancient City of Sigiriya	Sri Lanka	202
Selous Game Reserve	Tanzania	199
Cahakia Mounds State Historic Site	United States of America	198
The old walled City of Shibam	Yemen, People's Democratic Republic of	192

6 COM VIII.21 Nominations the World Heritage List (extension)

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The Committee furthermore decided that the site of Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, which was already included in the World Heritage List on the proposal of Guinea, would be extended through the addition of that part of the Reserve situated in Ivory Coast, which was nominated by that State.