Fourteenth session of the Committee

This year, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will meet in Bogota, Colombia from 9 to 14 December. The gathering at the Agora Bogotá Centro de convenciones will be the first time the Committee will meet in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ms María Claudia Lopez Sorzano, Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports of the city of Bogotá, will chair this fourteenth session.

In the course of six days, the twenty four members of the Intergovernmental Committee will take stock of recent developments in the implementation of the 2003 Convention and make important decisions about its implementation.

For example, the Committee will consider guidelines on how to best safeguard living heritage in emergency situations and will continue its reflection on how to improve the participation of non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Convention. An update regarding the reform of the periodic reporting mechanism to be launched in 2020 in the Latin American and the Caribbean is also included on the Committee’s agenda. Moreover, Committee members will examine the status of elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List and on the use of International Assistance granted to States for supporting their efforts of safeguarding living heritage.

As is the case every year, the Committee will consider elements for inscription on the Lists of the Convention. Six elements for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and forty-two on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity will be examined as well as three proposals for selection on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. Three International Assistance requests will also be tabled for the Committee’s consideration.