World Heritage Centre

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

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

The Sixth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage met in Paris, on 30 October 1987, during the twenty-fourth session of the General Conference.
Seventy-three of the ninety-six States which were Parties to the Convention as at 30 October 1987 and which thus had the right to vote, were represented at the meeting. Their names are given in the attached List of Participants.
Representatives of ten States not Parties to the Convention participated as observers in the General Assembly. Representatives of four Non-Governmental Organizations and of one Intergovernmental Organization 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 progress achieved in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. He informed the Assembly that the number of States Parties had increased from 87 to 96 since the last General Assembly and that the number of cultural and natural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List had risen from 186 to 247. He then recalled the role of the Committee, on the one hand in establishing the World Heritage List where it seeks to maintain balance, selectivity and representativity and, on the other hand, in protecting listed sites. He added that the assistance provided to the States Parties under the World Heritage Fund for the preservation of their inscribed sites was the most concrete expression of the system of solidarity instituted by the Convention, and he recalled that this assistance mainly depended on the contributions made by the States Parties. In this respect, he informed the Assembly that the budgetary situation of the World Heritage Fund had improved, particularly because many contributions had been paid towards the end of the 1984-1985 biennium and because many States Parties had made efforts to pay earlier their mandatory or voluntary contributions during the following biennium. In concluding, the Director-General recalled the bonds of cooperation created by the Convention among States Parties whose common goal was to safeguard for future generations the most precious legacy of the world.

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

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

7. The General Assembly elected by acclamation Mr. Paul Yao Akoto (Cote d'Ivoire), as Chairman. The newly elected Chairman expressed his thanks to the delegates for the confidence they had placed in him and for the honour granted to him. He recalled the attachment of everyone to the Convention and the common hope to take all possible steps to safeguard the heritage of mankind. The General Assembly also elected unanimously the representatives of Bulgaria, China, Jamaica and Oman as Vice-Chairmen, and Mrs. Marjatta Oksanen (Finland) as Rapporteur.

6 GA 8 Adoption of the Agenda of the General Assembly

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

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

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

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

9. The General Assembly examined document CC-87/CONF.013/2 by which the accounts of the World Heritage Fund Were submitted to the Assembly in accordance with the Financial Regulations of the Fund. The attention of the Assembly was drawn to the accounts for the financial period which terminated on 31 December 1985 (Annex I of the document), to the interim statement for the financial period 1986-1987 drawn up as at 31 August 1987 (Annex II) as well as to the summary of contributions received from States Parties as at 31 August 1987 (Annex III). The Assembly was informed of the contributions which had been received from several States Parties since 31 August 1987. The detailed statement of these contributions is given hereafter.

Etat partie	Somme	Années de contribution
	(en dollars des Etats-Unis d'Amérique)
Afghanistan	597	1985, 1986, 1987
Algeria	5 109.00	1986 and 1987
Argentina	8 000.26	2nd payment for 1987
Brazil	25 132.22	Voluntary contribution for 1987
Cuba	8 399.04	1986 and 1987 and advance on future contributions
Guinea	351	1986 and 1987
Haiti	1 268.00	1980-1986 inclusive
Iraq	10 905.00	1983-1987 inclusive
Lebanon	182	1986
Libyan Arab Jamahiryia	9 226.00	1985 and 1986
Luxembourg	912	1987
Oman	172	Final payment for 1987
Pakistan	1 103.85	Final payment for 1986 and payment for 1987
Poland	12 236.00	Final payment for 1987 and advance for 1988
Portugal	3 284.00	1987
Turkey	9 340.84	Final payment for 1986 and 1st payment for 1987
Yemen	364	1986 and 1987
Zimbabwe	364	1985

10. The General Assembly then took note of the accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period ending 31 December 1985, of the interim statement of accounts for the period 19861987 drawn up as at 31 August 1987 and of the summary of contributions received from States Parties as at 31 August 1987. The Assembly also took note of the information provided by the Secretariat concerning the contributions received since 31 August 1987.

11. Referring to the interim statement of accounts for the financial period 1986-1987, a speaker underlined the high figure of liquid assets which could be used to carry out safeguard projects. In reply to this question, the Secretariat stated that the General Assembly always met a very short time before the session of the Committee, and that the amount of liquid assets was normal since it was necessary at the end of each year to have sufficient funds available so as to enable the Committee to adopt a budget corresponding to the activities carried out during the following year. The next session of the Committee would take place early December; at that time and thanks to the funds available, the Committee would be able to respond favourably to the requests for technical cooperation. A delegate drew the attention of the Secretariat to the number of unliquidated obligations for 1981-1985 and he suggested that these projects should be re-examined. The Secretariat stated that such was its intention and that this question would be brought to the attention of the Committee in December.

6 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, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

12. The General Assembly unanimously decided that the amount of the mandatory contributions to be paid to the World Heritage Fund during the 1988-1989 period, in accordance with Article 16, paragraph 1 of the Convention, would be maintained at 1 % of the amount of the contributions of States Parties to the Regular Programme of Unesco, as had been decided at the five previous General Assemblies. The representative of India asked whether it was possible for a State Party to pay to the World Heritage Fund a voluntary contribution in addition to the mandatory contribution, for such was her country's intention. The representative of the Director General thanked her for this generous offer and informed her that this was perfectly possible, in accordance with Article 16.1 of the Convention. In addition, the Assembly was informed that voluntary contributions had been regularly paid to the World Heritage Fund by Austria and The Netherlands, States which are not Parties to the Convention, and that a voluntary contribution was paid to the Fund by Monaco, before this State became Party to the Convention.

6 GA 13 Means of ensuring an equitable representation of different regions and cultures of the world

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

13. The Assembly continued its work with the examination of the following item on the agenda concerning the elections. On that subject, several delegates, referring to Article 8, paragraph 2 of the Convention which stipulates that "election of members of the Committee shall ensure an equitable representation of the different regions and cultures of the world", drew the attention of the Assembly to the under-representation of Latin America, Africa and the Arab States within the Committee. Another speaker emphasized the necessity to assure an equitable representation of cultures in the composition of the Committee.

6 GA 14-21 Elections to the World Heritage Committee

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

14. The General Assembly was called on to elect seven Members of the World Heritage Committee to replace the following seven Members whose term of office was due to expire at the end of the twenty-fourth session of the General Conference : Brazil, Cyprus, Germany (Federal Republic of), Guinea, Jordan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Zaire.

15. The list-of States Parties which had submitted their candidature was read out before the Assembly. Argentina, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya withdrew their candidatures. The delegate of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya stated that his country was withdrawing its candidature in favour of Jordan. The delegate of the Federal Republic of Germany explained that his country was withdrawing its candidature because it was very impressed by the candidatures of the United Kingdom and of the United States of America which were thus showing their will to participate in the work of the committee. In conformity with Article 16, paragraph 5 of the Convention, the list of candidates was limited to those States Parties which had paid their contributions to the World Heritage Fund up to and including for 1986. The following States Parties were declared candidates: Brazil, Cuba, France, Guinea, Haiti, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Mali, Pakistan, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Tunisia and Yugoslavia.

16. On the decision of the Chairman, the elections took place by secret ballot. The delegates of Nepal and New Zealand were appointed tellers.

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

First ballot

Number of States Parties voting 96

Number of States absent 28

Number of abstentions 0

Number of invalid ballot papers 2

Number of votes recorded 66

Number of votes constituting a majority to be elected. 34

States obtaining the required majority of votes :

United States of America 45

Brazil 41

France 41

Tunisia 39

Pakistan 38

Italy 36

The Chairman declared elected to the World Heritage Committee after the first ballot the following States Parties : Brazil, France, Italy, Pakistan, Tunisia, the United States of America.

18. 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 seats remaining to be filled. Among the remaining candidates, Cuba and the United Kingdom had obtained the greatest number of votes. A second ballot limited to these two States was thus held.

19. The delegates of Lebanon and Senegal were appointed tellers.

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

Second ballot :

Number of States Parties voting 96

Number of States absent 30

Number of abstentions 0

Number of invalid ballot papers 2

Number of votes recorded 64

Number of votes constituting a majority to be elected 33

Votes obtained :

Cuba 33

United Kingdom 31

The Chairman declared Cuba elected to the World Heritage Committee after the second ballot.

21. After the elections, several delegates declared that, without putting into question the results of the voting, it was possible to note a lack of balance in the distribution of seats to the different geographical groups. The Chairman was asked to see to it that the procedures for the election of the Committee Members be reviewed in order to ensure the universal and cultural representation within the Committee foreseen by the Convention.

6 GA 22 Other business

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

22. Only one question was raised under item 8 "Other Business”: a speaker appealed to the Assembly for reflexion and evoked specific problems relating to the World Heritage which is endangered by various causes, including war.

6 GA 23-24 Closure of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Fri, 30 Oct 1987 00:00:00 EST

23. In the name of the Director-General, the Assistant Director-General for Culture and Communication conveyed his congratulations to the States which had been elected as Members of the Committee, and he addressed his thanks to the outgoing Members. He recalled the fundamental principles of the Convention which provides not only for national protection of cultural and natural sites, but also for international action to safeguard the heritage of mankind. Furthermore, he declared that the points raised by the General Assembly concerning a balanced representation of the regions would be brought to the attention of the World Heritage Committee, and that proposals would be presented to the General Assembly at its next session in 1989.

24. Before declaring the meeting closed, the Chairman pointed out to the Assembly the rather important rate of absenteeism at this session. This high rate could not but have an influence upon the results of the vote. He then declared closed the Sixth General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention.