Documentary Heritage of eleven Latin America and the Caribbean countries will be assessed for admission to the Regional Register of the Memory of the World Programme of UNESCO
From 21st to 23rd October, the 16th Meeting of the Regional Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Memory of the World (MOWLAC) Programme will be held in Quito (Ecuador). Convened by UNESCO with the International Center for Advanced Studies in Communications for Latin America (CIESPAL), the activity will select proposals submitted in 2015 for inclusion in the Regional Registry of the Programme. This year the MOWLAC Secretariat received a total of 19 applications from 11 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic).
The Director of the UNESCO Office in Quito and Representative for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, Saadia Sánchez Vegas expresses that "it is a privilege to host the Regional Committee meeting in Quito, a World Heritage site with a outstanding documentary heritage to be debated, preserved and known.”
Since 2002, the Register has incorporated 95 regional entries that include varied regional and national collections on politics, philosophy, literature, and music, in text, graphic and audiovisual formats. The Latin American and Caribbean register also addresses human rights, indigenous and slavery issues. The actors dealing with documentary heritage of Latin America and the Caribbean increasingly recognize the importance of the Memory of the World Programme of UNESCO and are committed to supporting the work of the Regional Committee. For example, Paraguay, Saint Maarten, British Virgin Islands and Argentina have recently created their own National Committees.
Guilherme Canela, MOWLAC Secretary and Advisor for Communication and Information in MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and Chile of the UNESCO Office in Montevideo explains: "Once again the Regional Committee will meet not only to evaluate important applications seeking registration at the regional Memory of the World Programme, but also to consider key issues for the development of public policies for the protection and promotion of the documentary heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean ".
The meeting, which will be held at CIESPAL headquarters, foresees an intense work agenda that will begin on October 20, in the afternoon with open lecture "Memory of the World: records, scope and criteria" by Rosa Maria Fernandez de Zamora and Lourdes Blanco Arroyo, MOWLAC Advisors.
The official opening will take place on the 21st October, at 9:00 pm. It will be open to the general public. High national and MOWLAC authorities will participate, among them Andres Arauz, Minister of Human Resources of Ecuador and Mr. Francisco Sierra Caballero, Director General of CIESPAL. When asked about the initiative, Caballero stressed that it will represent "an opportunity to strengthen the historical ties with UNESCO and launch an intensive work agenda in the Andean region and the subcontinent regarding Intangible Heritage, Culture and Documentary Heritage Register policies, which are a vital component of the political economy of communication and the cultural policies for the national development of our countries. "
Two days of closed meetings will follow up for the Regional Committee during which the applications submitted for entry in the Register will be selected, as well as operational issues of the Committee are to be advanced. The selection decision will be announced to applicants and the general public in the week following the meeting.
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