International Initiatives: Key Organisations and Instruments

UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is the most important intergovernmental organisation that promotes ICH safeguarding. It prepared and adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which came into force in 2006 and has been widely ratified by over 178 state parties. The Convention promotes respect, awareness and appreciation of ICH, encourages international cooperation, and explains how state parties may request financial assistance. It has established major organs and instruments for ICH safeguarding (UNESCO, 2003).

To increase visibility of the diversity of ICH, the Convention establishes the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. To safeguard ICH elements with threatened viability, the Convention also establishes the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. State parties may nominate ICH elements for inscription on these two lists. To facilitate experience exchange among state parties, the Convention also establishes the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices which presents a collection of nominated projects that best represents the gist of the Convention. Under the Convention, a “Fund for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage” is also established to finance international cooperation and assistance.

Two organs are instituted to manage the Convention. One is the General Assembly of the States Parties, and the other is the Intergovernmental Committee of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The General Assembly, consisted of states parties which meet once every two years, is the sovereign body of the Convention. The Intergovernmental Committee, which is composed of representatives elected by States Parties and meets once a year, oversees the implementation of the Convention.

To foster international and regional cooperation in ICH safeguarding, eight regional centres under the auspices of UNESCO have been established by UNESCO member states (UNESCO - Living Heritage Entity, n.d.b). In the Asia-Pacific, for example, there are the International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP) in the Republic of Korea, the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (CRIHAP) in China, and the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in Japan.

 

 

Museums have important roles to play regarding ICH safeguarding. The International Council of Museums, an international organisation of museums and museum professionals, organises projects to protect ICH with involvement from across the globe. It has hosted a conference about awareness-raising of ICH where more than 100 countries participated, published an international journal to promote ICH and started the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Museums Project (IMP) which provides opportunity for knowledge exchange and networking for museums worldwide (ICOM, 2020).

 

Continue to “National Initiatives: The Case of China”