ICOMOS World Heritage Panel 2019 – 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

From 18 to 23 November 2019, the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel met at ICOMOS International Secretariat, Charenton-le-Pont, in order to discuss 17 cultural and mixed properties nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List in 2020. 

The Panel meeting is divided in three parts.

The first day of the meeting, was dedicated to the presentation of the rules of procedure and the presentation and discussion of the Upstream and Assistance processes that were ongoing at the time. Also, during the first day, Panel members had some time to consult and study the background documentation available on nominated sites.

From 19 to 20 November, the Panel members examined and discussed the 17 cultural and mixed sites nominated for inscription.

During the second part held from 21 to 22 November, delegations from each nominating States Parties had the opportunity to hold meetings in order to discuss the issues raised with regards to their nominations by the ICOMOS Panel during the first part of the Panel meeting.

During the third and last part of the Panel started in the afternoon of 22 November and lasted until 23 November, Panel members discussed again the nominated properties and adopted provisional recommendations. During this part of the meeting, the content of the technical recommendations was discussed together with the content of the Interim reports and the additional information requests.

Interim reports, as prescribed by the Operational Guidelines, were delivered to each nominating State Party by 20 December 2019.

Before the discussions took place, Panel members rigorously examined a range of documents including the nomination dossiers and additional information submitted by States Parties as well as the ICOMOS evaluation mission reports, the desk reviews and information provided by relevant ICOMOS National Committees. All this information was submitted to Panel members two months in advance before the meeting and Panel members were requested to provide a written report with their views on the basis of a template provided by the Evaluation Unit.

Over a period of six days, the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel, composed of international conservation experts from 22 countries representing all five continents, carried out in-depth discussions about the nominated properties in order to consider whether the proposed properties fulfill the criteria required for inscription on the World Heritage List and to draft recommendations, in line with the requirements established in the Operational Guidelines, for the next session of the World Heritage Committee. (In light of recent developments in the world related to pandemic COVID-19, it was decided that the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee has been postponed to July 2021).

The ICOMOS Panel, which brings together some thirty persons, is made up of individual experts appointed by ICOMOS from its networks (ICOMOS Board, representatives of ICOMOS International Scientific Committees, ICOMOS members) and beyond who collectively possess a wide range of relevant cultural heritage skills and experience. The Panel members are selected each year depending on the nature of the properties nominated (e.g., rock art, 20th century heritage, industrial heritage, etc.) and on the basis of geo-cultural balanced representation. The collective expertise of the Panel is complimented by the advice provided by the ICOMOS advisors. They represent the various professional, geographic and cultural sensibilities present at the international level.

Furthermore, each member of the Panel undertakes to attend the whole of the meeting, and to actively take part in the work of the World Heritage Panel. In particular, each Panel member reviewed several files in detail and provided a written report before the beginning of the meeting.

All Panel members must take care to avoid potential perceptions of conflicts of interest. In all cases, an ICOMOS Panel member whose nationality is the same as that of the subject of the evaluation is absent from the discussion and decision-making process. At the beginning of the meeting, all Panel members are required to sign the ICOMOS World Heritage Policy Paper and ICOMOS Commitment of Confidentiality.

The Panel members undertake to respect the confidentiality of the discussions that occur, including the agreed ICOMOS recommendations. In finalizing and releasing the outcomes of the evaluations, communication with States Parties should be conducted solely via the ICOMOS International Secretariat.

The Panel working languages are English and French. Simultaneous translation is provided by ICOMOS through a team of professional translators.

Whereas Advisers’ travel and accommodation expenses are covered by ICOMOS through the World Heritage budget, the ICOMOS officers, representatives of ICOMOS International Scientific Committees and invited experts are required to cover these expenses themselves. The World Heritage Committee allocated some extra-budget to allow ICOMOS to provide funding to some of the experts in order to ensure the balanced representation of all regions.

An ICOMOS World Heritage Panel met again in March 2020 to discuss the outcomes following the November 2019 Panel, notably the responses received from the States Parties, in order to finalize the ICOMOS evaluation reports which were submitted to the World Heritage Centre.

Also during the March Panel meeting, four referred back nominations from previous World Heritage Committee sessions were examined and discussed by the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel.

List of 2019 - 2020 Panel Members

ICOMOS World Heritage Panel Chair Persons

Toshiyuki Kono (Japan)

Nancy Pollock-Ellwand (Canada)

ICOMOS Board Members

Clara Rellensmann (Germany)

Grellan Rourke (Ireland)

Laura Robinson (South Africa)

Mario Santana (Belgium/Canada/Venezuela)

Peter Phillips (Australia)

Suk Young Han (Ms) (Korea)

 

ICOMOS Scientific Committees representatives

ICAHM: Matthew Whincop (Australia)

ISCCL: Ana Luengo (Spain)

 

Invited ICOMOS World Heritage Panel Members

Alkiviadis Prepis (Greece)

Assaad Seif (Lebanon)

Barbara Arroyo (Guatemala)

Eric Zerrudo (Philippines)

Gabriel Cooney (Ireland)

Ibrahima Thiaw (Senegal)

Jun Zheng (China)

Marcela Hurtado (Chile)

Massimo Preite (Italy)

Michel Cotte (France)

ICOMOS World Heritage Advisors

Britta Rudolff (Germany)

Duncan Marshall (Australia)

Hossam Mahdy (Egypt)

Leticia Leitao (Portugal)

Luisa De Marco (Italy)

Niklas Schulze (Germany/Mexico)

Susan Denyer (UK)

Relationship between nominations and Panel members per region

Region	Dossiers 2019	%	Panel members	%
Africa	1	6	2	7
Arab States	1	6	2	7
Asia/Pacific	3	18	7	26
Eur/NA	8	47	12	44
LAC	4	23	4	14
TOTAL	17	100	27	100

The ICOMOS World Heritage Panel members © Mario Santana