Looking back and forward
One of the key points on the agenda were the reports from the Intergovernmental Committee and the Unesco Secretariat. These reports reflect on developments and activities from the past two years. For example, they looked back on the festivities for the twentieth anniversary of the Convention. The Secretariat's report also mentioned that in the coming years, they will build on developed documents, such as the Seoul Vision for the Future of Safeguarding Living Heritage for Sustainable Development and Peace’ and the declaration from the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2022. These two widely supported declarations indicate that sustainable development remains the main topic in the field of intangible cultural heritage in the coming period.
The report also mentions that further work will be done on three thematic topics. In 2023, the note on the economic dimension of intangible cultural heritage was already published. In the coming years, Unesco will also publish notes on intangible cultural heritage and climate change and on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in an urban context. These notes will also be of interest for the Dutch situation.
Focus on safeguarding actions
The safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage is the core of this Convention. To draw more attention to this, Sweden initiated a process in 2021 to better implement Article 18 of the Convention. This article is about making safeguarding actions visible. One of the instruments to achieve this is the (international) Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.
In recent years, states and countries have mainly nominated forms of intangible cultural heritage for the Representative List. By making the criteria for the Register more accessible, the hope is that more countries will submit good examples of safeguarding actions for the Register. Thus, the number of criteria has been reduced from nine to four. It was confirmed in this meeting that all four criteria must be met to be included in the Register.
Newly accredited NGOs
As many as 58 NGOs from around the world were accredited by Unesco this year. All NGOs affiliated with Unesco form a network: the ICH NGO Forum. And now this network is 58 NGOs richer. An important point of attention for the ICH NGO Forum is that more NGOs from different parts of the world should join: currently, the largest number of NGOs come from Europe.
Although the ICH NGO Forum has been working for years to get more NGOs from different parts of the world to join, a proposal was also adopted at this meeting for a more concrete action plan from the Secretariat to achieve this. An important step, as the State Parties thus emphasise the important role of NGOs in implementing the Convention.
Basketry craft in the spotlight
During the lunch breaks and after the meeting day, many interesting gatherings were organised. For example, from the editorial board of #HeritageAlive, the magazine from the ICH NGO Forum. The next theme of #HeritageAlive is 'Basketry'. To highlight this craft in Paris as well, baskets from Suriname, Morocco, Norway, and the Netherlands were presented. A Norwegian master basket maker gave a presentation on her work, and participants then had the chance to feel and weave materials themselves.
The baskets from the Netherlands were made by Mieke Langenhuizen and Sander van der Wielen. Both are members of the Association of Weavers, which in 2014 inscribed 'weaving of utensils' in the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Netherlands. Read more about Sander and Mieke's baskets here.
Mieke Langenhuizen and Sander van der Wielen with the two baskets they wove. These baskets were taken by KIEN to the annual General Assembly of Unesco.
Klimaatverandering
Finally, the ICH, Climate Change and the Environment working group of the ICH NGO Forum also organised a meeting. Through examples from Colombia, Panama, Bangladesh, Belgium, and Canada, the importance of the declaration on intangible cultural heritage and climate change was emphasised.
Read the report on this declaration here.
Next Meeting
The next meeting under this Convention is scheduled from 2 to 7 December 2024 in Paraguay. And of course, we from KIEN will be there again!