Decision 41 COM 7A.54

Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley (Afghanistan) (C 208 rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7A.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 40 COM 7A.26, adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016),
3. Welcomes the approval of Phase V of the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust (FiT) project for the safeguarding of the Bamiyan Buddha Niches in 2016, which allowed to resume various long-awaited conservation activities at the Western Buddha niche and the organization of the Bamiyan Expert Working Group meeting in December 2016;
4. Expresses its concerns over the state of conservation of the other components of the property, which have seriously deteriorated and are in imminent danger of collapse, except the site of Shahr-i Ghulghulah where emergency activities were carried out in 2015-2016 along with other conservation activities, and urges the State Party to allocate a minimum amount of funding for those components which have not received any international funds, as these might otherwise crumble beyond repair and thereby cause the loss of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
5. Calls upon the international community to provide technical and financial support not only to the Bamiyan Valley, but also to other components of this serial property, such as Shahr-i-Zohak, Kakrak and Shahr-i Ghulghulah, in order to help the State Party attain the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) adopted by the Committee in 2007;
6. Notes that the Cultural Master Plan, along with the City Master Plan, have been functioning efficiently to control increasing development pressures in and around the property, and also urges the State Party to continue vigilantly implementing this protection framework;
7. Acknowledges the State Party’s intention to revise the Cultural Master Plan in order to better respond to the increasing development pressures, and expresses its full support for the State Party’s proposal to revise the boundaries of the property in order to fully reflect the values of the cultural landscape;
8. Deeply regrets that irreversible decisions concerning the Cultural Centre and Museum in Bamiyan were taken without informing the Committee, which goes against Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, and that construction has progressed without submission of detailed information, including a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) to the World Heritage Centre for review by Advisory Bodies;
9. Also notes that, in the framework of the UNESCO/Japan FiT project, an international symposium is to be organized in September 2017 to discuss the long-term conservation of the Buddha niches, taking into account the wish of the State Party to partially reconstruct at least one of these niches, and that the meeting will also discuss proposals for partial reconstruction, and requests the State Party to submit the outcomes of the symposium, as well as any selected proposals or options, for review by the Advisory Bodies and consideration by the World Heritage Committee;
10. Also welcomes the deployment of on-site guards to each component of the property, in addition to the police officers deployed by the Ministry of Interior, who together can effectively stop any illicit trafficking of cultural property and increase the sites’ security;
11. Further urges the State Party to review, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, the timeframe for the implementation of the corrective measures and to submit this revised timeframe to the World Heritage Centre, for examination by the Committee;
12. Reiterates its encouragement to the State Party to elaborate and implement, with the support of international donors, a capacity-building programme to strengthen local and national capacities with regard to heritage conservation and management, including the development of the local communities’ capacity to contribute to the safeguarding the property;
13. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2018, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in 2018;
14. Decides to retain Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley (Afghanistan) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.