Taking into account the debates held at its 22nd session (UNESCO, 2019), the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention recalled the need to respect the highest standards of integrity and transparency of working methods within the process of decision-making of the Governing bodies of the Convention.
Also emphasizing the collective responsibility of all stakeholders – States Parties, World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies – to uphold the integrity and the credibility of the World Heritage Convention and, as such, expecting all stakeholders to conduct themselves according to the highest ethical standards of professionalism, equity and transparency, the General Assembly decided in Resolution 22 GA 10 to establish an open-ended working group of States Parties to the Convention, with the mandate to develop, for consideration by the 23rd session of the General Assembly of States Parties (in 2021), a Code of Conduct, or a Statement of Ethical Principles or equivalent text.
As requested by the General Assembly of States Parties, in order to assist with the work of the open-ended working group, the Secretariat prepared a background Document compiling a comprehensive list of existing, binding and non-binding elements, which could be referenced in a Code of Conduct, or a Statement of Ethical Principles or equivalent text. This background Document can be found below.
In conformity with Resolution 22 GA 10, a first meeting of the open-ended working group of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention was organized online on 16 February from 12.00 pm to 15.00 pm.
This inception meeting was also the occasion to proceed with the election of a Bureau of the open-ended working group as well as prepare and adopt a timetable for future meetings as recommended by Resolution 22 GA 10.
The Bureau of the open-ended working group is composed as follows:
Following the first meeting held on 16 February, this second meeting continued the work of the open-ended working group. An open, inclusive and substantive discussion took place regarding the drafting of a draft Code of Conduct, or a Statement of Ethical Principles or equivalent text. Participants to the meeting shared their views, identifying common objectives and themes. It was suggested to States Parties to submit written contributions to further nourish this reflection prior to the next meeting of the Working group.
States Parties willing to submit their contributions are invited to transmit them to the Secretariat, to Ms Frédérique Aubert (f.aubert@unesco.org) with copy to Mr Gabriel Grancher (g.grancher@unesco.org).
Deadline for submitting written contributions : 17 April 2021
| Relevant documents | |
|---|---|
| Non-paper on Code of Conduct, 0.1-draft (1 June 2019) | English French |
| Sweden’s submission in advance of the 2nd working group meeting (30 March 2021) | English French |
| Report of the meeting | |
| Report of the meeting | English French |
Document presenting comments
and/or proposed amendments
received from States Parties (final)
English French
The outcomes of the third meeting are presented
on pages 7-8 of the document below
English French
| Report of the meeting | |
|---|---|
| Report of the meeting | English French |
The outcomes of the fourth meeting
are presented on pages 10-14 of the document below
English French
| Statistics on the regional balance of experts from the Advisory Bodies | |
|---|---|
| ICCROM | English French |
| ICOMOS | English French |
| IUCN | English French |
| Responses to questions to the Secretariat | |
| Statistics inscriptions Committee | English / French |
| Draft proposed by the Bureau on the introductory part of the text | |
| Draft proposed by the Bureau on the introductory part of the text | English French |
| Amendments | |
| Amendments proposed by the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia to the 0-DRAFT introductory part | English French |
| Amendments to the text proposed by China | English French |
| Amendments to the text proposed by the Russian Federation | English French |
| Amendments to the text proposed by Saudi Arabia | English French |
| Report of the meeting | |
| Report of the meeting | English French |
The outcomes of the fifth meeting are presented
on pages 9-13 of the document below
The outcomes of the sixth meeting are presented
on pages 2-8 of the document below
Comments/proposals on already agreed parts
of the text have been removed from the table to facilitate the reading.
| Introductory part of the text as approved (also integrated in the table) |
|
|---|---|
| Introductory part of the text as approved | English French |
| Report of the meeting | |
| Report of the meeting | English French |
The outcomes of the seventh meeting
are presented on pages 8-11 of the document below
Comments/proposals on already agreed parts
of the text have been removed from the table to facilitate the reading.
| Report of the meeting | |
|---|---|
| Report of the meeting | English French |
The outcomes of the eighth meeting
are presented on pages 5-15 of the document below
Comments/proposals on already agreed parts
of the text have been removed from the table to facilitate the reading
| Text as adopted by the Open-ended working group during its 8th meeting | English French |
| Document 1 | document 1 |
| Document 2 | Document 2 |
| Text of the Declaration of principles to promote international solidarity and cooperation to preserve World Heritage | |
|---|---|
| Text of the Declaration of principles to promote international solidarity and cooperation to preserve World Heritage, as adopted by the Open-ended working group on 26 October 2021 (document WHC/21/23.GA/INF.10) | English French |
| Report of the Open-ended working group | |
| Report of the Open-ended working group of States Parties to the Convention (document WHC/21/23.GA/10) | English French |
| Report of the meeting | |
| Report of the 9th and Final meeting | English French |
These meetings are made possible thanks to the financial support of
the Governments of Austria, Azerbaijan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The General Assembly,