The forth session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was held from June 4 to 8, 2012 at UNESCO Headquarter in Paris, France. During the session, ICCN was accredited as an NGO for providing advisory function to the Intergovernmental Committee. This result traced back from the year of 2010.
The ICCN sent the request for accreditation and was examined by the Intergovernmental Committee along with other requests from NGO in the world at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Committee held in Nairobi, Kenya. The committee recommended 59 NGO including the ICCN for accreditation. Based on the examination by the committee, the General Assembly advanced accreditation of NGO for advisory services to the Committee. All these 59 NGO have been fully accredited. You may get more information and the list of NGO on the resolution (RESOLUTION 4.GA 6-ITH/12/4.GA/Resolutions) at the UNESCO website.
During the forth session of the GA, some of the operational directives, such as the modalities of the examination and the maximum ceiling of files to be examined annually by the Committee, was revised based on the Committee’s experience they gained from the implementation of the Convention since 2008. For the more, the composition of the Consultative body has been amended as which will be composed of 6 accredited NGO and 6 independent experts appointed by the committee.
On behalf of the Representative of ICCN, Mayor Myeonghee Choi, Mr. Euibong Jeong, a director of Tourism, Culture and Welfare of Gangneung City, and Mr. Seok je Lee attended the General Assembly. Ms. Eva Romankova of Czech Ethnographical Society and Mr. Pierre-Julian Canonne of ANCT, were also present during the GA as they celebrate together the accreditation of ICCN.
As an accredited NGO to the Committee, ICCN should think of its role on how to involve in the implementation of the Convention more actively at local, national and international levels. At the national level, each member could use its privilege as a local government in working closely and directly with heritage communities. At the international level, we could share our experiences and efforts in the implementation of the Convention at the local level. Also, we can work hand in hand together with other 100 accredited NGO in this field. Let’s see and talk about out next step this coming ICCN GA in Gangneung, Korea!
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