Decision 46 COM 11

Report of the Open-ended Working Group established by the extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/11,
2. Recalling Decision 45 COM 11 adopted at its extended 45th session (Riyadh, 2023),
3. Having examined the Background document prepared by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (April 2024),
4. Reaffirming that the conservation of cultural and natural heritage is at the core of the Convention, and equal attention needs to be given to inscription, protection and conservation, and management,
5. Also reaffirming the need to reduce the gaps, enhance representativity of heritage with Outstanding Universal Value, achieve a balanced and credible World Heritage List and to support the aspirations of non-represented and under-represented States Parties on the World Heritage List,
6. Requests the Advisory Bodies to undertake a review and an update of the 2004 Gap Analyses, including a consultative process, pending necessary financial support, to report about the progress, including a roadmap, to the 47th session and to submit the updated Gap Analyses, including an action plan for implementation, to its 48th session;
7. Also requests the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies and Category 2 Centres, to review existing and proposed new capacity building programmes and propose a mechanism to strengthen their funding and coordination including sustainability of results, focusing on Africa and SIDS, as well as under-represented and non-represented States Parties for the preparation of the Tentative Lists, nominations and long-term conservation, and ensure more awareness raising of stakeholders and decision makers on the processes and requirements of the Convention, and invite the States Parties to contribute financially to this end;
8. Strongly encourages States Parties to regularly revise their Tentative Lists to include under-represented categories of sites, and also recalling Paragraph 73 of the Operational Guidelines, encourages State Party dialogue at regional, sub-regional and inter-regional level;
9. Further requests the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, in consultation with Category 2 Centres, to present a proposal for the revision and simplification of the Nomination Format, and the corresponding revisions in the Operational Guidelines, also exploring options for developing an online platform for the submission of nomination dossiers, at its 47th session;
10. Requests furthermore the World Heritage Centre in collaboration with the Advisory Bodies to update the Manual for Preparing Nominations, pending necessary financial support, and to submit it to its 48th session;
11. Further recalling the “Declaration of principles to promote international solidarity and cooperation to preserve World Heritage”, endorsed by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention in 2021, also strongly encourages Committee Members to refrain from having nominations examined during their mandate;
12. Also encourages an equal geographic representation of experts from all regions in the Advisory Bodies, including their inclusion in all stages of the evaluation and advisory processes, and an increased engagement of regional experts and Category 2 Centres for sustainable capacity building activities;
13. Recommends to carry-out an in-depth reflection on heritage in Africa, and the other regions, on understanding and application of authenticity as expressed by the 1994 Nara Document on Authenticity and the 1964 Venice Charter on conservation and restoration, to reinforce the implementation of the World Heritage Convention and present a progress report to the Open-ended Working Group and to the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee;
14. Takes note of the intention by the State Party of Kenya to host a meeting in Kenya in May 2025 on the topic of heritage and authenticity in Africa;
15. Also recommends the establishment of an AFRICA 2035 Programme similar to the AFRICA 2009 Programme, with strategic objectives, inter alia, to reinforce the achievements of the AFRICA 2009 Programme, the Youth Heritage Africa Programme, to train young Africans on the dynamics of the inscription of sites on the World Heritage List, and to strengthen site management and conservation systems in the face of climate change in collaboration with ICCROM, the World Heritage Centre and other partners, including the Category 2 Centres;
16. In line with the Resolution 12 GA 30-48 adopted by the 12th General Assembly of States Parties and Paragraph 59 of the Operational Guidelines, further strongly encourages the States Parties with successful World Heritage nominations, to explore opportunities to link each of their nominations with one nomination presented by a State Party whose heritage is under or non-represented; this entails full support for the whole process of the preparation of the nomination file, until the submission of both nominations preferably at the same cycle of evaluation;
17. Urges States Parties to develop genuine cooperation to reduce the imbalance of the List, by assisting a State Party that so requests in the process of preparing a nomination dossier;
18. Further recommends to explore the funding possibilities, including through the World Heritage Fund, to support the implementation of the above-mentioned programme and activities;
19. Decides to extend the mandate of the Open-ended Working Group until the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee.