Decisions adopted at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee (Doha, 2014)
38th session of WHC. Official web-site
New sites in the World Heritage List
Resolution of World Heritage Youth Forum Qatar 2014
The 38th session of the World Heritage Committee, which is the main body of the UNESCO 1972 Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage, ended on 25 June in Doha (Qatar).
During the ten-day session, 26 new unique cultural and natural sites have been inscribed to the World Heritage List, by the decision of international experts.
Among the included inscriptions are 21 cultural, 4 natural and 1 mixed sites. For the first time a Myanmar’s site has been inscribed to the World Heritage List. Thus, the total number of monuments of outstanding universal value, included in the prestigious list of UNESCO, amounts to 1007 (on the territory of 161 countries).
During the session, the member countries of the Committee discussed basic issues of implementation of the UNESCO Convention adopted in 1972. (Russia became a state party to the Convention in 1988). Almost 250 working papers were reviewed and more than 150 decisions were made on various aspects of the implementation of the Convention – one of the most popular international agreements, with 191 States being members of it.
The symbolic 1000th inscription on the World Heritage List happened during the session. The honor to be the country having 1000th World Heritage Site was given to a country of the African continent (Botswana).
The Russian delegation led by Permanent Delegate to UNESCO E.V. Mitrofanova included the Director of Russian Research Institute for Cultural and Natural Heritage P.E. Yudin, Aide to Tatarstan President T.P. Larionova, Minister of Culture of Tatarstan A.M. Sibagatullin, experts from different organizations: Ministry of Culture of The Russian Federation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of The Russian Federation, Saint-Petersbrug Committee for Control, Utilization and Protection of Monuments, The KIZHI museum, as well as other interested institutions and organizations.
An important outcome of the session for Russia was the inscription of a new Russian cultural site the "Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex" (Tatarstan) on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The basis for this decision was the conformity of the Russian nomination with criteria set out by the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted in 1972. International experts have agreed with the basis of Ancient Bolgar’s outstanding universal value, admitting that it y illustrates the relationship and the mutual influences of cultural traditions of Eurasian peoples such as Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Slavic and others, in particular at the time of the Volga Bolgars, the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate and the Russian state.
The session has considered Russia’s application for a slight change of the buffer zone of the Kizhi Pogost. It has also noted efforts of the Russian Federation to promote the Thematic Initiative on Astronomy and World Heritage (Russia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ukraine, USA, etc.), to organize the first Moscow International Seminar for religious representatives on the management of the World Heritage sites of religious values, to establish an international category 2 center of UNESCO related to World Heritage for CIS and Eastern Europe countries.
Reports on the state of more than 100 sites protected by UNESCO, including Russian Kizhi Pogost, Historical Centre of the City of Yaroslavl, Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands, Curonian Spit, Lake Baikal, Western Caucasus and Virgin Komi Forests, have been brought before the Committee for confirmation. UNESCO international experts have offered recommendations on how to provide further preservation of outstanding universal value of these Russian sites. In addition, the World Heritage Committee has formulated warnings due to the available to the Organization information about foreign projects, capable of damaging unique Russian natural monuments.
A progress in carrying out the recommendations of the Committee on the project "Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments" has been marked. It has also been emphasized that a detailed state of conservation report on St. Petersburg, submitted by the Russian Federation, reflects significant progress in the implementation of the World Heritage Committee decision, adopted at the 36th session of the WHC (St. Petersburg, 2012). Results of work of the Group of international experts on the issue of clarifying the borders of this object and the development of the legal framework for the protection and management of world heritage sites have been appreciated. The successful completion of work under the retrospective inventory (WHC-14/38.COM/8D) of St. Petersburg’s sites has been noted.
It was recognized that the state of conservation of the "Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments" is adequately ensured.
By the decision of member countries of WHC the specified wording of the provisions of the outstanding universal value of a number of Russian sites of global importance, included in the UNESCO List: "The Church of the Ascension," "Historical center of Yaroslavl", "Kizhi", as well as cross-border "Geodetic Arc Struve "(with the participation of Russia and 9 countries)," Curonian Spit "and" Uvs Nuur basin "(Mongolia) have been approved.
In addition it should be noted that at the meeting in Qatar the Resolution of World Heritage Youth Forum, which has become a continuation of the initiative laid by the first UNESCO Youth model in Kazan in July 2012 at the suggestion of the Russian organizers of the 36th session of the WHC, has been adopted.
Maria Bohmer, Minister of State for Cultural Relations and Educational Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, was elected the new chairman of the World Heritage Committee.
The next, 39th, session of the Committee will be held in Bonn (Germany) from June 28 to July 8, 2014
Information of the Permanent Delegation of the Russian Federation to UNESCO
