Decision 45 COM 7A.25

Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi (Uganda) (C 1022)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7A.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decisions 35 COM 7A.17 and 44 COM 7A.4 adopted at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011) and extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021) respectively,
3. Welcomes the completion of the reconstruction of the Mazibu Azaala Mpanga, the restoration of the Bujjabukala (gate house) and the close collaboration of the State Party with the World Heritage Centre, the UNESCO Regional Office in Nairobi and the Advisory Bodies;
4. Commends the strong commitment and engagement of the Government’s national and local authorities, as well as the traditional management of the Buganda kingdom authorities, and the Kasubi local communities, as the custodians of sacred sites;
5. Acknowledges the continued financial commitment of the Government of Japan, through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation of the World Cultural Heritage, the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund (HEF) and the World Heritage Fund to the installation of a firefighting system for the tombs area of the property;
6. Also acknowledges the Government of Norway’s financing of the World Heritage Centre project aiming at developing the guidelines by promoting the application of the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) to safeguard heritage in African contexts, which took this property as a case study, also welcomes the efforts made towards re-evaluating the buffer zone boundary alignment, defining development guidelines for the buffer zone and aligning local planning regulations with the safeguarding, maintenance and transmission of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and the requirements of its protection and management, and requests to the State Party to:
   1. Continue its efforts to establish an improved buffer zone alignment, complete guidelines for the buffer zone in collaboration with World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, guided by the approach of HUL, and submit these to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies,
   2. Submit the amended local planning regulations that accommodate the guidelines for the buffer zone to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
7. Notes the conclusions and recommendations of the 2023 joint UNESCO/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission and strongly encourages the State Party to implement these recommendations;
8. Also encourages the State Party to proceed with updating the Management Plan for the property aligned with HUL including to:
   1. Update the Disaster Risk Management Plan into the existing Management Plan,
   2. Align the Management Plan with the existing Master Plan,
   3. Provide mechanisms to harmonize the Management Plan with the buffer zone guidelines currently under development,
   4. Include a tourism management component in the Management Plan based on a thorough understanding of the carrying capacity of the property,
   5. Translate the corrective measures defined for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSCOR) into management actions to be implemented continuously for the protection and management of the tangible and intangible attributes of the property;
9. Also commends and congratulates the State Party, as well as the Buganda Kingdom and its partners for substantively completing the implementation of the corrective measures defined for achieving the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR);
10. Decides to remove the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi (Uganda) from the List of World Heritage in Danger;
11. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2024, 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 47th session.