THE SESSION OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF UNESCO WAS HELD IN KASANE, BOTSWANA – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia

The main highlight of the session was that the state parties have celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage together and reported their actions toward to the safeguarding of living heritage of humanity since the adoption of the Convention.The eighteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention was held in Kasane, the Republic of Botswana from 5 to 8 of December 2023.The session has successfully ended with the decision to organize the next 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Paraguay in 2024.Ambassador Nyamkhuu Ulambayar, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to UNESCO, emphasized that Mongolia has organized the World Nomads Festival and contributed to the promotion of nomadic culture and culture dialogues within the framework of the celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the Convention and informed about the initiative of Mongolia on celebration of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026 which was adopted by the UN General Assembly meeting and the Ulaanbaatar Declaration of the abovementioned Festival which  is in line with the Seoul Vision: Unleashing the power of living heritage for sustainable development and peace.During the session the Committee members of 24 countries made decision to register 6 elements for the inscription on List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, 45 elements for the inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and 4 proposals for the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. By now, 730 elements of 145 countries are inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage and 31 programmes of 37 countries are for the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.Furthermore, the Ambassador noted that Mongolia has organized ICH Open days, workshops and livestream TV programs to introduce the ICH bearers and practitioners to general public, and informed about the initiatives that implemented to increase the importance of inclusion of heritage education in education system. In addition, she has informed the participants of the session that Mongolia is working on passing on individual law on intangible cultural heritage and further actions taken on promoting nomadic culture worldwide.

Source