The Centre informed the Bureau of a recent meeting between the Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations and the Director-General of UNESCO during which the critical situation of the cultural properties of Afghanistan caused by years of neglect and war damage, as well as the illicit excavation and traffic of movable property were discussed. It was recalled that four of the sites on the tentative list of Afghanistan, namely, Herat, Bamiyan, Ai Khanoum and the Minaret of Jam - were officially nominated by the State Party for inscription and that on the basis of ICOMOS’ evaluation, the World Heritage value of these sites was recognized by the Bureau in 1982. However, in view of the absence of management plans and up-dated report on the state of conservation, the Bureau at that time, recommended the Committee to defer its decision.
The Bureau was informed of the request from Afghanistan for preparatory assistance to up-date the nomination files and to identify emergency preservation measures, but the inability to consider this request due to the exhaustion of the preparatory assistance allocation for 1995. The Centre, on behalf of Afghanistan, requested for voluntary contributions to enable this urgently required evaluation mission to prevent the loss of these cultural properties of potential universal value.
The Chairman indicated that this matter will be considered under Agenda item 8, on budgetary questions.