Launched by the Director General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova on 28 March, the purpose of the #Unite4Heritage campaign is to build support for the protection of heritage where it is threatened by sectarianism and extreme violence.

According to the new ICOMOS Statutes, annual General Assemblies will take place on the same occasion as the annual Advisory Committee meetings. The agenda of the annual General Assembly focuses on: receiving the reports of the ICOMOS President and Treasurer on the management by the Board and the health and financial situation of the association; and approving the annual report and accounts and discharging the Board, as well as voting next year’s budget.

All other matters such as adoption of doctrinal texts, elections of the Board and officers, conferring of Honorary membership, voting the ICOMOS General Programme and budgetary guidelines for the next triennium, as well as proposing resolutions for adoption by ICOMOS continue to be dealt with by the triennial General Assembly.

Just when the outer limits of one’s ability to be shocked by the depths of human iniquity seem to have been exceeded, something more cruel and brutal comes along that defies the definitions of outrage and horror. Such is the case with the recent videos released by the "Islamic State" featuring a cruel orgy of killings and now followed by the wanton destruction of universally valued cultural treasures in Iraq.

After 27 years of loyal service as ICOMOS International secretariat's general handyman, Antonio Medina has to leave us. We wish him all the best for this new chapter of his life and thank him for his constant kindness, patience and efficiency.

The secretariat staff

On 20 January 2015, ICOMOS invited the States Parties members of the World Heritage Committee and IUCN to participate in a meeting to discuss the changes that have been and will be undertaken in order to improve the efficiency and rigour of the advisory work carried out by ICOMOS in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972) as well as to propose mechanisms for an upstream and more cooperative dialogue with the States Parties regarding nominations to the World Heritage List.

Please note the new address of the ICOMOS International Secretariat:

11 rue du Séminaire de Conflans
94220 Charenton -le-Pont , France
Tel. + 33 (0) 1 41 94 17 59
Fax. + 33 (0) 1 48 93 19 16
E -mail: secretariat [ at] icomos.org

All email addresses remain the same.

As our new premises are in the same location as the Médiathèque de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, please present yourself at the reception desk of the Médiathèque who will direct you to the ICOMOS offices. We thank you for kindly informing us of your visit ahead of time.