World Heritage Centre

4 GA 1-6 Opening of the General Assembly by the Director-General or his representative

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

The Fourth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage met at Unesco Headquarters in Paris on 28 October 1983 during the 22nd session of the General Conference.
Sixty-four of the seventy-five States which were parties to the Convention as at 28 October 1983 and which thus had the right to vote, were represented at the meeting, namely : Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany (Fed. Rep. of), Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, India, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, United Republic of Cameroon, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zimbabwe.
Representatives of the following States not Parties to the Convention also participated as observers in the General Assembly; Austria, China, Finland, Gabon, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Luxemburg, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands and Sweden. Representatives of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), of the Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) also attended the meeting in an observer capacity.
The list of participants to the General Assembly is given in annex 1 to this document.
In accordance with the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly the Secretariat of the Assembly was assumed by the Secretariat of UNESCO .
In opening the meeting on behalf of the Director-General, the Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mr. Makaminan Makagiansar, noted with pleasure the success of the Convention which 76 States had so far ratified or accepted : 51 properties had been inscribed on the World Heritage List since the last General Assembly, bringing to 136 the number of sites and monuments inscribed. This list had been drawn up with all due impartiality by the Committee which had been able, with the help of ICOMOS and IUCN, to define criteria and procedures for the evaluation of nominations. The Assistant Director-General then underlined the importance of public information activities designed to associate the public as widely as possible with the conservation of the world heritage and he described the activities undertaken in this regard by UNESCO as well as several initiatives of States Parties. With respect to technical co-operation activities from which 31 States Parties had already benefitted, Mr. Makagiansar indicated that the World Heritage Fund had contributed $ 1,100,000 for the training of specialists, $ 1,200,000 for safeguarding works, $ 300,000 for emergency assistance and approximately $ 100,000 for preparatory assistance. In concluding, the Assistant Director-General for Culture expressed his concern at the delays in the payment of mandatory and voluntary contributions of States, which had reached such a level that they risked to impede the implementation of the Convention, at a time when the threats to the heritage from the aggressions of the modern world were on the increase.

4 GA 7 Election of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairpersons and Rapporteur of the General Assembly

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

7. The General Assembly elected by acclamation Mr. Beschaouch (Tunisia), as Chairman,. the representatives of Brazil, Bulgaria, Malawi and Pakistan as Vice-chairmen and Mlle Mireille Jardin (France) as Rapporteur.

4 GA 8 Adoption of the Agenda of the General Assembly

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

8. The agenda of the session was adopted without amendment.

4 GA 9-11 Examination of the Statement of Accounts of the World Heritage Fund

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

9. The representative of the Bureau of the Comptroller introduced document CLT-83/CONF.022/2 by which the accounts of the Fund were submitted to the General Assembly in accordance with the Financial Regulations of the World Heritage Fund. He drew attention to the accounts for the financial period which terminated on 31 December 1980 given in annex I of the document as well as to the interim statement for the three-year financial period 1981-1983 drawn up as at 31 July 1983 set out in annex II. The Assembly was informed of contributions which had been received from several States Parties since 31 July 1983 as follows :

Country Amount Year of contribution

Afghanistan 199,00 balance 1982, $ 9,00 for 1983

Algeria 4,780,00 1982 and 1983

Argentina 6,419,05 balance 1981, 1^st payment 1982

Cyprus 199,00 1983

Iraq 2,390,00 1982

Libya 13,742,00 1981, 1982 and 1983

Nepal 199,00 1983

Niger 199,00 1981

Oman 199,00 1983

Pakistan 1,394,00 balance 1982, $ 1,279,27 for 1983

Portugal 3,784,00 1983

Tunisia 597,00 1983

10. A certain number of delegations informed the Assembly that steps were underway in their countries for the prompt payment of their contributions.
11. The General Assembly then took note of the accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period ending 31 December 1980 as well as the interim statement of the accounts for the three-year period 1981-1983 drawn up as at 31 July 1983. The Assembly also took note of the information provided by the representative of the Comptroller concerning the contributions received since 31 July 1983.

4 GA 12 Determination of the amount of the contributions to the World Heritage Fund in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the World Heritage Convention

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

12. On the proposal of the Chairman, the General Assembly decided unanimously to maintain for the financial period 1984-1985 the amount of the contribution to be paid to the World Heritage Fund foreseen in Article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention at 1% of the contribution of States Parties to the Regular Budget of UNESCO .

4 GA 17 Other business

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

17. The Assistant Director-General for Culture offered his congratulations to those States which had been elected to the He formulated the wish that the interest of States for the Convention which had been manifest during the Fourth General Assembly notably by the numerous candidatures submitted for election to the Committee would be pursued by the effective participation of all States Parties in the implementation of the Convention.

4 GA 18 Closure of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 28 Oct 1983 00:00:00 EST

18. Before declaring the meeting closed, the Chairman congratulated the Secretariat for its work in the implementation of the He expressed the hope that the Secretariat would continue to receive, on the part of UNESCO as well as under the World Heritage Fund, the necessary assistance for the pursuit of the work accomplished. In concluding he announced that the 7th Session of the World Heritage Committee would be held in Florence from 5 – 9 December 1983 at the generous invitation of the Italian authorities.