Decision 44 COM 7B.68

National History Park – Citadel, Sans Souci, Ramiers (Haiti) (C 180)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 34 COM 7B.110, 35 COM 7B.125, 36 COM 99, 37 COM 98, 38 COM 7B.44, 40 COM 7B.6 and 42 COM 7B.39, adopted at its 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011), 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012), 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013), 38th (Doha, 2014), 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and 42nd (Manama, 2018) sessions respectively,
3. Also recalling the numerous reports of the Advisory and Reactive Monitoring missions and their recommendations to the State Party on the conservation and management of the property;
4. Notes that the implementation of essential tools for the good management and conservation of the property, such as the definition of the buffer zone and the finalization of the conservation and management plans, that were supposed to have been undertaken in 2020 still remain to be completed, and requests the State Party to submit these documents to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, as soon as they become available;
5. Takes note of the reinforcement of management staff on the property, and urges the State Party to consolidate the management structure and its staff in the context of the proposed Management Plan;
6. Notes with great concern that the question of the deviation of the RN003 road is still not satisfactorily resolved, that the State Party is still concentrating on the upgrade of the existing road through the Park, and that the environmental and heritage impact assessments that the State Party has undertaken on the rehabilitation of the road through the Park confirm the serious impacts the road would have on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and that the proposed mitigation measures cannot be considered to mitigate the damage that would be caused;
7. Considers that the rehabilitation of the road through the Park poses a potential danger to the OUV of the property and reiterates its extreme concern that the State Party has not undertaken the studies that are necessary for an objective analysis and comparison of alternative routes outside the Park;
8. Reiterating Decision 34 COM 7B.110, that requested the State Party to "halt the construction of the RN003 within the limits of the property pending the development of other alternatives to be evaluated, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines", also requests the State Party to confirm that the future route of the RN003 will not pass through the property because it would seriously affect its integrity, and impact adversely on OUV, and to inform the Committee as soon as possible if and when the necessary studies for defining deviation outside the property will be made;
9. Notes with concern that the delays in the finalization of these actions and tools could ultimately constitute a potential danger to the OUV of the property, in accordance with Paragraph 179 of the Operational Guidelines;
10. Deeply regrets the fire, which destroyed the Church of Milot in April 2020 and further requests the State Party to submit updated documentation on the implementation of the measures included in the Institute for the Preservation of National Heritage (ISPAN) emergency mission report and on whether tests have been carried out to verify the structural stability of the surviving structures;
11. Also urges the State Party to submit detailed documentation on the proposed upgrading of the secondary road from the RN003 to the Choiseul parking area, including an analysis of its potential impacts on the OUV of the property, to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies as soon as possible;
12. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2022, 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 45th session, with a view to considering, in the absence of significant progress in the implementation of these recommendations, and in the case of confirmation of the ascertained danger to OUV, the inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.