World Heritage Centre

7 GA 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 — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

11. The General Assembly unanimously decided that mandatory contributions to the World Heritage Fund for the period 19901991 would be fixed in US dollars and that, in accordance with Article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention, the amount would be maintained at 1 per cent of contributions made by States Parties to the regular programme of Unesco, as had been decided at the six previous General Assemblies.

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

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

The Seventh General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage met in Paris, on 9 and 13 November 1989, during the twenty-fifth session of the General Conference.
Eighty-eight of the hundred and eleven States which were Parties to the Convention as at 30 October 1989 and which thus had the right to vote were represented at the meeting.
Representatives of thirteen States not Parties to the Convention participated in the General Assembly as observers. Representatives of four non-governmental organizations also attended the meeting in an observer capacity.
The List of Participants to the General Assembly is given in Annex I of this document.
In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, the Secretariat of the Assembly was ensured by the Secretariat of Unesco.
In his opening speech, the Assistant Director-General for Culture and Communication, representing the Director-General, drew attention to the progress achieved in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. He informed the Assembly that since the last General Assembly the number of States Parties had increased from 96 to 111 and the number of cultural and natural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List had risen from 247 to 315. He added that the assistance provided to States Parties under the World Heritage Fund for the preservation of their sites inscribed on the List was the most concrete expression of the system of solidarity created through the Convention. Since the creation of the World Heritage Fund, technical co-operation has been financed for an amount of $7,465,000, of which $3,000,000 have been allocated for the training of specialists. In this respect, he recalled that the assistance provided was dependent on the contributions made by States Parties. He underlined the particularly high number of contributions due for the period 1988-1989 and appealed to the States Parties to guarantee the regular payment of contributions that will enable the development of international assistance to States Parties. He then reminded the Assembly of the solutions that the World Heritage Committee, through its Bureau, had deemed appropriate to suggest to the General Assembly in order to ensure the effective rotation of members on the Committee.

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

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

7. The General Assembly elected by acclamation His Excellency Mr. E. G. Whitlam (Australia) as Chairman. The General Assembly also unanimously elected the representatives of Italy, Mexico, Senegal and Tunisia as Vice-Chairmans, and Mr. Keoule Boundy (Mali) as Rapporteur.

7 GA 8 Adoption of the Agenda of the General Assembly

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

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

7 GA 9-10 Examination of the Statement of Accounts of the World Heritage Fund

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

9. The General Assembly examined document CC-89/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 Assembly was informed of contributions received since 31 August 1989 from several States Parties. A detailed statement of these contributions is given below.

Etat partie	Somme	Années de contribution
	(en dollars des Etats-Unis d'Amérique)
Costa Rica	696	1986 to 1988
Cyprus	958	1988-1989
German Democratic Rep.	31,384	1989
Italy	4,799	1989
Jamaica	479	1988
Monaco	10	1989
New Zealand	20,259	1986 to 1989
Pakistan	1,544	1988-1989
Peru	157	1989
Poland	15,093	1989
Republic of Korea	4,791	1989
Senegal	452	1988-1989
Sri Lanka	294	1988-1989
Syrian Arab Republic	3,451	1989
United Rep. of Tanzania	200	19,871,988
Yugoslavia	21,562	1988-1989

10. The General Assembly then took note of the statement of accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period ending 31 December 1987, the interim statement of accounts for the period 1988-1989 as at 31 August 1989 and the summary of contributions received from States Parties as at 31 August 1989, presented in document CC-89/CONF.013/2. The Assembly also took note of the information provided by the Secretariat concerning contributions received since 31 August 1989.

7 GA 12 Means of ensuring an equitable representation of different regions and cultures of the world

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

12. Examination of item 7 of the agenda concerning the examination of the means of ensuring an equitable representation of different regions and cultures of the world gave rise to an intensive debate. At the opening of the debate, the Delegate of Sri Lanka, whose mandate on the Committee was about to be completed, explained that his country had withdrawn from standing for re-election for a further term in order to respond to the need of ensuring a rotation of members on the Committee. Most speakers were of the opinion that, a better rotation of members on the Committee was a necessary precondition to improving geographical and cultural representation on the Committee. Numerous speakers were of the opinion that, in addition to the rotation, the World Heritage Committee should consider establishing new procedures for the next elections, such as determining quotas of seats per region. Since the number of States Parties is increasing, it becomes necessary to apply election mechanisms in order to ensure effective representation of regions and cultures, as mentioned in Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention. A few speakers, while recognizing the difficulties inherent in a procedure for revising the Convention, nonetheless considered that in the long term it might be necessary to resort to a revision of the Convention in order to increase the number of Committee members to thirty-six, currently fixed by Article 8, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The intermediate solution proposed by the Bureau of the Committee aiming to institute a: new category of observers which would have enabled outgoing members of the Committee to be formally, as well as closely, associated in its work for a period of four years, it being understood that they would not be able to stand for re-election before six years, was not accepted. At the conclusion of the debate on this item, the Assembly consequently adopted following Resolution:

"The General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,

Recalling 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';

Considering that for this purpose it is important to observe the practice of rotation in the representation of States Parties on the Committee;

Invites the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, whose mandates on the Committee expire, to consider not to stand for re-election during an appropriate period;

Requests the Chairman, at each election, to invite States Parties to take account of this Resolution;

Invites the President of the World Heritage Committee to do everything in his power to encourage the States Parties, whose mandates on the Committee have just expired, to remain closely associated with its work for a period of four years, in conformity with Article 8.1 of the Committee's Rules of Procedure;

Invites the World Heritage Committee to give further consideration at its meetings in the next two years to additional procedures, such as regional quotas, to ensure an equitable representation of the different regions and cultures of the world, as required by Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention;

Invites furthermore the World Heritage Committee to formulate proposals in view of financing, in whole or in part, travel and sojourn expenses for the members of the Committee representing the least developed countries."

7 GA 13-19 Elections to the World Heritage Committee

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

13. Under item 8 of its agenda the General Assembly was called on to elect seven Members to the World Heritage Committee to replace the following seven Members who would have completed their term of office at the end of the twenty-fifth session of the General Conference: Algeria, Australia, Lebanon, Malawi, Norway, Sri Lanka and Turkey. The list of States Parties having submitted their candidature was read out to the Assembly. In accordance 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 1988. The following States Parties were declared candidates: Colombia, Cyprus, Finland, the Federal. Republic of Germany, Finland, Hungary, Indonesia, New Zealand, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Senegal, the Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand and Yugoslavia.

14. On the decision of the Chairman, the elections took place by secret ballot. The delegates of the German Democratic Republic and of Monaco were appointed tellers.

15. The results of the first ballot which were announced by the Chairman, were as follows:

First Ballot

Number of States Parties voting

Number of States absent

Number of abstentions

Number of invalid ballot papers

Number of votes recorded

Number of votes constituting the majority required to be elected

States obtaining the required majority of votes:

Senegal

Oman

Colombia

111

The Chairman declared elected to the World heritage Committee after the first ballot the following States Parties: Colombia, Oman and Senegal.

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 seats remaining to be filled. Among the remaining candidates, Thailand, Peru, Indonesia, the Syrian Arab Republic, New Zealand, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Finland had obtained the greatest number of votes. A second ballot limited to these eight States was held.

17. The results of the second ballot, which were announced by the Chairman, were as follows:

Second Ballot

Number of States Parties voting 111

Number of States absent 45

Number of abstentions 0

Number of invalid ballot papers 0

Number of votes recorded 66

Number of votes constituting the majority required to be elected 34

States obtaining the required majority of votes:

Peru 41

Syrian Arab Republic 39

The Chairman declared elected to the World heritage Committee after the second ballot the following States Parties: Peru and the Syrian Arab Republic.

18. Resuming the session, on 13 November 1989, the third ballot was organized with two new tellers, India and Portugal. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, the third 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, Thailand, Finland, Indonesia and New Zealand had obtained the greatest number of votes. The results of the vote, which were announced by the Chairman, were as follows:

Third Ballot

Number of States Parties voting 111

Number of States absent 51

Number of abstentions 0

Number of invalid ballot papers 2

Number of votes recorded 58

Number of votes constituting the majority required to be elected 30

Thailand having alone obtained the required majority with 39 votes in its favour, a fourth ballot was organized between Finland and Indonesia.

19. The results of the fourth ballot, which were announced by the Chairman, were as follows:

Fourth Ballot

Number of States Parties voting 111

Number of States absent 48

Number of abstentions 0

Number of invalid ballot papers 2

Number of votes recorded 61

Number of votes constituting the majority required to be elected 32

Indonesia, having polled 34 votes, was declared elected.

7 GA 20 Other business

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

20. Under item 9 of the agenda "Other business", the representative of Tunisia launched an appeal for assistance in favour of the site of Tipasa, inscribed on the World Heritage List, which has recently suffered from an earthquake. Several delegates gave their support and expressed the desire that the World Heritage Committee examine this question during its forthcoming meeting. The Secretariat then specified that a request by Algeria for emergency assistance could be submitted at any time and would be examined without delay. The delegate of Thailand, for his part, wished that the state of accounts of the World Heritage Fund should be presented with more details at subsequent General Assemblies.

7 GA 21 Closure of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Thu, 09 Nov 1989 00:00:00 EST

21. The Chairman said he was pleased that the meeting had allowed the drawing up of the main principles for an improved geographical distribution of members on the Committee and declared the seventh General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Committee closed.