World Heritage Centre

5 GA 1-6 Opening of the General Assembly by the Director-General

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

The Fifth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage met in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 4 November 1985, during the 23rd session of the General Conference.
Sixty-eight of the eighty-seven States which were parties to the Convention as at 4 November 1985 and which thus had the right to vote, were represented at the meeting, namely : Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic Yemen, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany (Federal Rep. of), Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Representatives of the following States not Parties to the Convention also participated as observers in the General Assembly: Angola, Austria, Finland, Japan, Kenya, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Netherlands, Philippines and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. A representative of the Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (AIECSO) also attended the meeting in an observer capacity.
The list of participants to the General Assembly is given in annex I 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 General Assembly, the Director-General drew attention to the unprecedented undertaking inaugurated in the Convention, namely the identification of cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value which together form the common heritage of all nations. An ever-increasing participation in the action taken to this end was evident throughout the world: the number of States Parties had increased from 76 to 87 since the last General Assembly and the number of sites included in the World Heritage List had risen from 136 to 186. The Director-General went on to describe the active role assumed by the Committee for the protection of monuments and sites at the national level and in building up the World Heritage List. The efforts of the Committee were evidently subject to the means which the international community made available to the World Heritage Fund, and the Director-General informed the Assembly of the funds allocated to the training of specialists, emergency assistance, preparatory assistance and for the safeguarding of sites included in the World Heritage List. However, the situation of the Fund gave rise to some concern, due on the one hand to the non-payment by certain States Parties of their mandatory contributions and on the other hand to the fact that voluntary contributions had not attained the expected level. In concluding, the Director-General underlined the need to make the Convention better known and he mentioned the publications which had appeared on the subject since the last General Assembly.

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

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

7. The General Assembly elected by acclamation H. Exc. Mr. Gough Whitlam (Australia), as Chairman, the representatives of Bangladesh, Hungary, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Madagascar as Vice-Chairmen and H. Exc. Mr. Marino Jaramillo (Colombia) as Rapporteur.

5 GA 8 Adoption of the Agenda of the General Assembly

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

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

5 GA 9-10 Examination of the statement of accounts of the World Heritage Fund, including the status of the States Parties' contributions

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

9. The General Assembly examined document CLT-85/CONF.009/2 by which the accounts of the Fund were submitted to the Assembly in accordance with the Financial Regulations of the World Heritage Fund. The attention of the Assembly was drawn to the accounts for the financial period which terminated on 31 December 1983 given in annex I of the document, to the interim statement for the financial period 1984-1985 drawn up as at 31 July 1985 set out in annex II, as well as to the summary of contributions received as at 31 July 1985 from States Parties given in annex III. The Assembly was informed of contributions which had been received from several States Parties since 31 July 1985 as follows :

State Party	Amount (US $)	Year of contribution
Afghanistan	362	1983 and 1984
Australia	26,714	1985
Canada	52,394	1985
Cyprus	344	1984 and 1985
Ecuador	344	1985
Ethiopia	172	1984
Guinea	356	1984 and 1985
Italy	63,597	1985
Ivory Coast	2,826	1981-1985 inclusive
Jordan	172	1984
Lebanon	1,287	1983, 1984 and 1985
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	4,481	1984
Luxembourg	1,034	1985
Poland	12,236	1985
Spain	32,918	1985
Switzerland	18,786	1985
Turkey	5,342	1984
United Republic of Tanzania	344	1984 and 1985
Yemen	344	1984 and 1985
Zaire	681	1983-1985 inclusive

10. The General Assembly then took note of the accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period ending 31 December 1983, the interim statement of the accounts for the period 1984-1985 drawn up as at 31 July 1985, as well as the summary of contributions received from States Parties as at 31 July 1985. The Assembly also took note of the information provided by the Secretariat concerning the contributions received since 31 July 1985.

5 GA 11 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 — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

11. The General Assembly decided unanimously to maintain for the financial period 1986-1987 the amount of the mandatory contributions to be paid to the World Heritage Fund foreseen in Article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention at 1 % of the contributions of States Parties to the Regular Budget of Unesco.

5 GA 12-16 Elections to the World Heritage Committee

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

12. The General Assembly was called on to elect 7 Members of the World Heritage Committee to replace the following 7 Members whose term of office was due to expire at the end of the 23rd Session of the General Conference : Argentina, France, Italy, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal and Switzerland.

13. The list of States Parties which had submitted their candidature was read out before the Assembly. The candidatures of Argentina and Costa Rica were withdrawn in favour of Ecuador and Mexico and that of Egypt in favour of Yemen. In conformity with article 16, paragraph 5 of the Convention, the list of candidates was limited to those States which had paid their contributions to the World Heritage Fund up to and including for 1984. The following States Parties remained candidates: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Canada, Ecuador, France, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen and Yugoslavia.

14. On the decision of the Chairman the elections took place by secret ballot. The delegates of Ivory Coast and Saudi Arabia were appointed tellers.

15. The results of the vote which were announced by the Chairman were as follows :

First ballot

Number of States Parties present and voting 68

Number of invalid ballot papers 0

Number of votes recorded 68

Number of votes constituting a majority 35

States obtaining the required majority of votes

India 49

Canada 47

Yemen 44

Mexico 39

United Rep. of Tanzania 38

Greece 36

The Chairman declared elected to the World Heritage Committee after the first ballot the following States Parties: Canada, Greece, India, Mexico, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen.

16. In accordance with the Rules of procedure, the second ballot was to be limited to those states which had obtained the greatest number of votes provided that the number of States did not exceed twice the number of the seats remaining to be filled. Among the remaining candidates, Bulgaria and France had obtained the greatest number of votes, receiving each 25 votes. A second ballot limited to these two States was to be held. However, France withdrew in favour of Bulgaria which was declared elected to the World Heritage Committee.

5 GA 17-18 Other business

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

17. The representatives of Bulgaria, Greece, India, Mexico, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen assured the General Assembly of the firm intention of their countries to contribute actively to the work of the World Heritage Committee and to the implementation of the Convention. The representative of the United States of America emphasized his country's continued support for the World Heritage Convention which it regarded as a unique basis for increased international cooperation for the protection of sites of outstanding universal significance. After describing the measures taken in his country to implement the Convention, the same delegate announced that his government intended to make a contribution to the World Heritage Fund in 1986 and that the United States would be a candidate for election to the Committee at the next General Assembly.

18. The Assistant Director-General for Culture offered his congratulations on behalf of the Director-General to those States which had been elected to the Committee and his thanks to the outgoing members. He underlined the very special nature of the Convention which constituted the basis for true international cooperation for the protection of the cultural and natural heritage of mankind and he assured the General Assembly that the Secretariat remained at the disposal of States Parties for any assistance they may require to ensure its effective implementation.

5 GA 19 Closure of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Mon, 04 Nov 1985 00:00:00 EST

19. Before declaring the meeting closed, the Chairman referred to the low level of resources in the World Heritage Fund which was, in his opinion, due to the facts that certain of the largest contributors to the Regular Budget of Unesco were not parties to the Convention and that certain of those States paying voluntary contributions had not paid the full amount which they had the moral obligation to pay. He expressed the hope that full and regular contributions would be made to the Fund so that the World Heritage Committee could fulfil its responsibilities under the Convention. The Chairman announced that the ninth session of the World Heritage Committee would be held at Unesco Headquarters in Paris from 2 to 6 December 1985. He then declared closed the Fifth General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention.