World Heritage Centre

2 COM .1 Introduction

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The second session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as "the Committee") was held in Washington from 5 to 8 September 1978. The session was attended by the following members of the World Heritage Committee: Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Poland, Tunisia, United States of America and Yugoslavia.

2 COM .2 Introduction

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

Representatives of the International Centre for Conservation, the International Council of Monuments and Sites, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (hereinafter referred to as "ICCROM", "ICOMOS" and "IUCN" respectively) attended the meeting in an advisory capacity.

2 COM .3 Introduction

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

Observers from five States Parties to the Convention not members of the Committee, namely Brazil, Morocco, Panama, Switzerland and the Syrian Arab Republic, also attended the session, as well as observers from ten international governmental and non-governmental organizations and a wider public audience.

2 COM .4 Introduction

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The full list of participants will be found in Annex III to this report.

2 COM .5 Opening of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The second session of the Committee was opened by its Chairman, Mr. Firouz Bagherzadeh. In welcoming members of the Committee, representatives of advisory organizations and all other participants, he recalled the great progress already achieved in the implementation of the Convention thanks to the efforts of the States Parties, Bureau members, the Secretariat and the advisory organizations. He concluded by expressing his confidence that the session would be both fruitful and enjoyable.

2 COM .6 Opening of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

Mr. David Hales, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior, welcomed delegates to Washington on behalf of the United States of America. He conveyed to the Committee a written message from the President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, the text of which is given in Annex I. The Committee greatly appreciated the personal message from the President of the United States of America and requested the Chairman to convey to the President its gratitude for the message with which he had honoured the opening of the second session.

2 COM .7 Opening of the session

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Deputy Assistant Director General for Operations (Culture and Communication) responded on behalf of the Director General of UNESCO. Mr. Bolla expressed UNESCO's sincere appreciation for the invitation by the Government of the United States of America to hold the second session in Washington. In greeting members of the Committee and wishing them success in their work, he indicated the important role of international organizations such as UNDP, UNEP, IBRD, IDB, WFP, OAS and ALECSO in providing crucial support to conservation measures. In this context, he also expressed UNESCO's gratitude to the host country for its intellectual and financial support to a number of conservation projects throughout the world. He then reported on the present situation regarding the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"). Forty (40) Member States of UNESCO had ratified or accepted the Convention as of 23 August 1978 and other Member States were about to do so. Thus the Committee would be enlarged to twenty-one members, as provided for under the Convention, when the next election to the Committee took place on 24 November 1978, at the second General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention to be held during the next General Conference of UNESCO. He continued with an analysis of the geographical distribution of States Parties to the Convention and pointed out that nine States Parties belonged to the Arab Region, eight to the African Region, eight to the Western European and North American Region, seven to the Central and Latin American Region, five to the Asian and three to the Eastern European Regions. Mr. Bolla noted that, while this distribution was a fairly balanced one, still greater efforts would have to be made to increase further the number of States Parties, particularly in the Asian and Eastern European regions. He then highlighted the fact that a number of outstanding cultural and natural properties had already been nominated by States Parties for inclusion in the World Heritage List, which set a high standard for the future designation of properties for the List. In reviewing the present financial situation of the World Heritage Fund, he stressed the crucial importance of voluntary contributions to the Fund. Mr. Bolla then expressed the opinion that the time had probably not yet come to launch a world-wide mass media campaign aimed at the general public for publicising the Convention, as this might be more effective when a greater number of concrete achievements could be shown. In this connection, Mr. Bolla stressed the importance of starting immediately with operations under the Convention and he suggested that necessary action be taken without delay to enhance knowledge of the Convention among decision-makers in all Member States of UNESCO. However, preparatory work should already commence to plan future information activities intended for the general public. Finally, Mr. Bolla recalled that the Committee had so far adopted all its decisions with the full consensus of all its members. He concluded with the hope that the decisions adopted at this session would also be unanimous.

2 COM I.8 Adoption of the agenda

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Chairman invited the members of the Committee to examine the provisional agenda prepared by the Secretariat. At the request of members of the Committee, two new items were added to the agenda: "Revision of the Rules of Procedure" and "Review of the Procedure for Nominations to the List of World Heritage in Danger."

2 COM I.9 Adoption of the agenda

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

With the above additions, the agenda was adopted.

2 COM II.10 Revision of the Rules of Procedure

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Committee discussed the need to increase the number of officers constituting the Bureau in view of the greater workload of the Bureau in the future. Committee members also felt that a larger number of officers would be advisable to allow for:

(i) better representation of geographical regions in the Bureau; and,
(ii) enhanced expertise for both natural and cultural properties.

Having also in mind that the membership of the Committee itself would be increased from 15 to 21 delegates at the second General Assembly, the Committee agreed to elect henceforth 7 officers for the Bureau which would then consist of the Chairman, five Vice-Chairmen and the Rapporteur.

2 COM II.11 Revision of the Rules of Procedure

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Committee amended Articles 12.1 and 13 of the Rules of Procedure accordingly.

2 COM III.12 Election of the Chairman, Vice-Chairmen and Rapporteur

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Committee elected by acclamation Mr. David Hales (USA) as its Chairman. The Committee then proceeded to elect by acclamation the delegates of Ecuador, Egypt, France, Iran and Nigeria, as Vice-Chairmen, and Professor Krzysztof Pawlowski (Poland), as Rapporteur. The new Chairman then called for a standing ovation to thank Mr. Firouz Bagherzadeh for the excellent leadership he had provided to the Committee during the past year.

2 COM IV.14 Consideration of a draft text of a standard agreement between the World Heritage Committee and States receiving technical cooperation

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Committee, after reviewing and commenting on each article of the draft agreement, asked the Secretariat to take note of the observations made by the delegates and to elaborate a new, less detailed text for consideration by the Committee at its next session. It was also noted that the new text should be formulated in such a way as to accommodate the specific requirements and practice of States Parties. In doing so UNESCO's general principles for the provision of technical cooperation should be retained.

2 COM IV.15 Consideration of a draft text of a standard agreement between the World Heritage Committee and States receiving technical cooperation

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

Until the adoption of such an agreement by the Committee, UNESCO's rules and procedures would be followed in the provision of technical cooperation to States Parties.

2 COM IV.16 Consideration of a draft text of a standard agreement between the World Heritage Committee and States receiving technical cooperation

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

16. The Committee expressed the wish that the Secretariat, in the preparation of a new draft agreement, take note of the following observations and recommendations made by delegates during the discussion:

17. With regard to Article 2 paragraph 5: The delegate of Poland recommended rewording to avoid obligation to meet expenses (for instance, for medical treatment) in convertible currency for countries with a non-convertible currency. Several delegates considered that governments should be encouraged to employ the fellow to the extent possible upon his return, in the field for which he has been trained under the fellowship rather than to force governments to do so as a condition sine qua non.

18. With regard to Article 3, as the delegate of Canada pointed out, not all States Parties had adhered to the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of Specialized Agencies of the UN system. He therefore recommended that the wording of Article 3 be reconsidered by taking into account specific regulations by which some of the States Parties might be bound.

19. With regard to paragraph 3 of Article 3, the delegate of the United States of America requested that the stipulation not to impose commercial bank charges should be reconsidered as it might be difficult to apply this clause in some countries.

20. With regard to paragraph 5 of Article 3, the delegate of Canada expressed doubt that the "save harmless clause" would be an appropriate provision, as its legal value from the point of view of his government was questionable.

21. Article 4 should also contain a provision for the use in the agreement of the official language(s) of the country receiving assistance.

22. As regards paragraph 3 of Article 4, the delegate of Canada recommended the following clause: "In the event of termination, the undertakings assumed in this arrangement will continue to apply to the extent necessary to permit the orderly withdrawal of personnel and funds and the settlement of accounts, provided that in no case will the arrangement continue to apply for a period longer than (- x - months or years)."

2 COM IV.23 Consideration of a draft text of a standard agreement between the World Heritage Committee and States receiving technical cooperation

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Committee invited other members who wished to comment on the draft text to transmit their observations to the Secretariat by 31 December 1978. These comments would be circulated by the Secretariat to all members of the Committee and would be taken into account in the preparation of a revised text to be considered by the Committee at its third session.

2 COM V.24 Examination of the form and Periodicity of Publication of the World Heritage List, the List of World Heritage in danger and the List of Properties for which technical cooperation is granted

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The Committee followed the recommendation of the Bureau and agreed to publish and disseminate annually the World Heritage List, the World Heritage in Danger List and the list of properties for which technical cooperation is granted from the World Heritage Fund as combined lists. (see document CC-78/CONF.010/6). It was pointed out that this arrangement would allow for timely updating of these lists after each annual session of the Committee.

2 COM V.25 Examination of the form and Periodicity of Publication of the World Heritage List, the List of World Heritage in danger and the List of Properties for which technical cooperation is granted

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The representative of ICOMOS and the delegate of France drew the attention of the Committee to the introductory part to the World Heritage List in which some terms used in the French text did not correspond to the English text. In order to overcome this the Committee adopted the following changes in the French text: the criteria against which cultural properties would be evaluated, which are set out in point a) (ii) should read "... sur le développement de l'architecture, de la sculpture monumentale, de la conception des jardins et paysages, des arts connexes, des conceptions de l'urbanisme ou de l'habitat ..." instead of "... sur le développement ultérieur de l'architecture, de la sculpture monumentale, de la conception des jardins et des paysages, des arts connexes ou de l'habitat ...".

Point a) (v) should read "... formes d'habitats humains traditionnels ou de conceptions urbanistiques ..." instead of "... formes d'habitats humains traditionnels ...". Upon the Rapporteur's proposal, the Committee decided to amend also the corresponding English text in order to add the same clarifications.

2 COM VI.26 Consideration of Public Information Activities

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

The former Rapporteur presented the views of the Bureau on this matter. He pointed out that the Bureau agreed that consideration should be given urgently to a general ongoing publicity campaign to promote the objectives of the Convention and the work of the Committee. Such a campaign would help to inform the public of the importance of conserving the World heritage, accelerate ratifications by Member States of the Convention, stimulate contributions to the World Heritage Fund, and generally start fulfilling the educational mandate outlined in the Convention.

2 COM VI.27 Consideration of Public Information Activities

wh-support@unesco.org — Tue, 05 Sep 1978 00:00:00 EST

After considerable discussion, the Committee agreed to form a sub-Committee for in-depth study of future public information and educational activities of the Committee.