Twenty-one international experts gathered on 21 and 22 May at UNESCO Headquarters at the request of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage see Decision to explore operational modalities of action for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in situation of emergencies.
The dual dimension of emergencies and living heritage was underlined during the event - on one hand the threats on the viability of living heritage in such situations and on the other hand, the role of living heritage as a resource for preparedness, recovery, resilience and reconciliation. Experts highlighted the complexity and breadth of emergencies and their impact on living heritage and stressed that saving people is the first step towards safeguarding living heritage as the latter is inseparable from its bearers. In this regard, cooperation with humanitarian actors and other relevant stakeholders is fundamental.
Experts also highlighted the principle of community-based actions, which is at the core of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The outcomes of the meeting will be reported to the fourteen session of the Intergovernmental Committee in Bogota, Colombia, from 9 to 14 December 2019, in order to inform the discussion on this matter.

Documents

• Preliminary programme
  LHE/19/EXP/1 Rev.2: English|French
• Working document
  LHE/19/EXP/2: English|French
• List of participants
  LHE/19/EXP/3 Rev.: English/French
• Presentation - Opening: English|French
• Presentation - Session 1: UNESCO Frameworks: English|French
• Presentation - Session 2: Disasters (by Mr Hiroki Takakura): English
• Presentation - Session 2: Conflict (by Mr Lassana Cissé): French

On 22 April 2019, the Living Heritage Entity organized a roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) on “The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage: Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples.”
The UNPFII is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established in 2000 with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, the environment, culture, education, health and human rights. The focus for this year’s Forum was on the special theme of “Traditional knowledge: generation, transmission and protection.”
The Secretary of the Convention, Mr Tim Curtis, gave an overview of the Convention and why it is relevant for indigenous peoples to support the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
“There are some quite inherent alignments between some of the key concepts that exist in the UNDRIP and the 2003 Convention. Even though the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention is not specifically directed to indigenous peoples, it captures a lot of those same concerns, especially around community custodianship.”
Ambassador Rubén Escalante Hasbún, Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the UN, shared some recent experiences from El Salvador of an International Assistance project that aimed to safeguard the oral traditions of Náhuat speakers in the municipality of Santo Domingo de Guzmán. The project, in particular, focused on engaging youth in the inventorying process, which enhanced community self-esteem and pride in their indigenous culture. “We have to include the young people, making sure that youth can have a better understanding of their identity.”
Ambassador Hasbún emphasized the importance of harnessing existing synergies between different international mechanisms to enhance indigenous rights.
This was a point likewise highlighted by Mr Elifuraha Laltaika, member of the UNPFII and founder of the Association for Law and Advocacy for Pastoralists in Tanzania.
“The importance of the 2003 Convention cannot be overemphasized because it provides the spaces for indigenous peoples to exercise their agency in terms of fostering their identity and continuity through transmission.”
Mr Laltaika spoke of the potential of international instruments to enhance the cultural rights of indigenous peoples that have historically been threatened by global histories of colonialism and dispossession.
“The 2003 Convention is a central to boosting or amplifying indigenous peoples’ historical and ongoing efforts to assert their identities and preserve their languages, cultures and traditions.”
Ms Hindou Ibrahim co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change and founder of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad emphasised how the Convention corresponds to indigenous concerns about safeguarding cultural heritage and ensuring its continued relevance for future generations. She underscored the Convention’s community-based approach, which requires the free, prior and informed consent of communities in all safeguarding activities.
“This convention…means a lot for me and it can mean a lot for indigenous peoples. If it can guide us through the best approach, with free, prior and informed consent and safeguard all what we have as culture, knowledge and as our future because we talk about the technological future but our indigenous knowledge is our future.”

Other issues discussed included the links between education and intangible cultural heritage, the important role of indigenous women as carriers of their cultures and challenges to ensure compliance and implementation of international conventions protecting indigenous peoples’ rights at the country level.

The event generated interest in the Convention among the participants at the Forum, building on the momentum of the International Year of Indigenous Languages. UNESCO will continue its work on this important issue with side events at the upcoming session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bogota, Colombia, to focus on the role of indigenous languages and safeguarding living heritage.

You can listen to the full event here

A five-day workshop will be organized for the platform members and trainers who received training on inventory making within the framework of the project “Strengthening national capacities for safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Egypt for sustainable development”, generously funded by Abu Dhabi Culture and Tourism Authority. It will aim to provide technical and educational tools to participants for the development of safeguard plans particularly from inventory making. The training will be jointly led by two Arabic-speaking facilitators and the coordinator of the project from the UNESCO Office in Cairo. The two facilitators will use the UNESCO educational materials and will work on adapting them to the country context.

The workshop on inventorying with the participation of communities under the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage builds on the results of the workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention held in 2011 and aims to equip the staff of the Abu Dhabi Department of Tourism and Culture with knowledge and skills to design and facilitate an inventory approach based on the collective commitment and adapted to the particular situation of the communities. Facilitated by two members of the UNESCO’s facilitators’ network, the workshop will cover the themes of participatory inventory work under the 2003 Convention, possible frameworks for participatory inventory work, ethics and responsibilities, methods and techniques of inventorying, as well as a field practicum.

The Republic of Comoros ratified the 2003 Convention on 20/11/2013. The Comoros do not yet have elements on the ICH lists. National authorities of Comoros and other stakeholders are committed to safeguarding the country’s living heritage. 2015 as part of a mission to assess the country’s needs for building various capacities parties involved in the implementation of an agreement quietly 2003 project Capacity building has been developed and a National Heritage Committee intangible cultural heritage which has been an encouraging sign of the country’s willingness to implement the ICH

This workshop is part and parcel of an ongoing 24-month project with the aim of strengthening capacities to safeguard ICH in Egypt for sustainable development. The project is the result a of needs assessment in the field of intangible cultural heritage that was made possible thanks to the financial contribution of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA).
Funded also by ADTCA, this project intends to support Egypt in its efforts to safeguard its living heritage, in accordance with the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. In partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Egypt, UNESCO Cairo has already provided policy advisory services and capacity-building activities based on needs previously identified in consultation with national partners through the sector assessment, conducted in April-August 2015.

The Secretariat of the Convention organizes an information and exchange session on the provisional upstream dialogue for nominations to be examined in 2019 by the Intergovernmental Committee on Friday, 1 March 2019. This meeting takes place in Room XI (Fontenoy) from 3 to 5 p.m.

This meeting is co-organized by the Secretariat of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Permanent Delegation of Colombia to UNESCO in its capacity as representative of the Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Committee and of the informal ad hoc open-ended working group.

The purpose of this meeting is to present and discuss, in the presence of the members of the Evaluation Body, a proposed procedure for the provisional upstream dialogue mechanism. This meeting is open to interested States Parties, which are not members of the Committee and States not party to the Convention.

• Presentation of the Secretariat: English|French
• Information note: English|French
• Timetable of work of the Evaluation Body in 2019: English|French

This workshop is aimed at civil servants from the Ministry of Culture who will be responsible for the implementation of the 2003 Convention and those of the ministries involved in safeguarding the ICH and the Lebanese National Commission for Unesco. It will also target members of associations / NGOs and university representatives, as well as heritage bearers working in the field of living heritage. The workshop is organized within the framework of the project “Strengthening capacities for the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention of the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Lebanon”, generously funded by the Japan Funds-in-Trust.

Within the framework of the project “Strengthening national capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Sudan”, generously funded by Abu Dhabi Culture and Tourism Authority, a 10-day assessment mission is organised to identify and analyse previous inventory activities in the field of intangible cultural heritage in Sudan. The mission will include a series of meetings and consultations as well as basic training sessions related to community-based inventorying as understood by the 2003 Convention.
During the mission, the priorities for the development of a strategy for inventory making will be set through group discussions with the various stakeholders concerned, including community representatives. The objective will be to update previous inventorying experiences, set up a knowledge management system and promote community-based participative approaches when inventorying ICH elements.