UNESCO ICH: Protecting the heritage of humanity
A recent seminar held in Beijing, China on the Ratification and the Implementation of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for Asian and Pacific Countries highlighted the necessity to build a global community that respects and protects their national Intangible Cultural Heritage; simply put- the heritage of humanity.
Painstaking process: Carved lacquer making
Awareness building on ICH elements of the nations, ICH values, key concepts of the ICH Convention and different safeguarding mechanisms therein, are imperative to successful implementation of the Convention, it was stressed.
The three-week seminar organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Central Academy of Cultural Administration (CACA), attended by countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Montenegro, Nepal and Sri Lanka, took up for discussion various topics such as- ‘The Convention and Relevant Issues,’ ‘Collaborations with the UNESCO in the Global Capacity Building Programme of ICH Safeguarding,’ ‘Guidance of ICH on Future Development of Cities’.
Several sessions also focused on China’s experience in particular, in relation to the ratification and implementation of the Convention.
What is Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)?
The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted on October 17, 2003 (also called the 2003 Convention, with 163 state parties being signatory to this international instrument upto April 2015), defines ICH as ‘practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills, as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts, cultural spaces associated therewith- that communities, groups and individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage.
“This Intangible Cultural Heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature, and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity, and continuity thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity,” it further states.
| SL proposes string puppetry for ICH list Sri Lanka has proposed string puppetry as its maiden nomination for the ICH Representative list recently and the submission on this ICH element will be reviewed at next year’s meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, ICH list, the Sunday Times learns. |
Accordingly, oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, traditional craftsmanship are considered the main domains where such ICH is manifested.
The key objectives of the Convention are to safeguard the ICH, ensure respect for ICH of the communities and groups/ individuals concerned, raise awareness at local, national and international level and to provide for international co-operation.
The State parties, therefore, can nominate and make submission regarding their ICH elements to be inscribed in to three respective lists of the Convention- namely the Urgent Safeguarding List, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Humanity and the Register of Best Practices List.
The Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage meets annually to evaluate and decide on the nominations proposed by the state parties regarding their ICH elements for inscription into these lists.
Inscribed into the Urgent Safeguarding List are ICH elements that need urgent safeguarding measures and hence garner international assistance for preservation, while the Representative List demonstrates the diversity of the ICH.
The Best Practices List on the other hand, reflects on programmes, projects and activities that are effective and need to be shared with the rest of the world, says Yang Zhi, Deputy Director General of Bureau for External Cultural Relations of Ministry of Culture in China. However, he notes that inscriptions to the Best Practices List do not receive the same level of attention by the member states often, compared to the other two lists.
As of now there are 364 elements in the ICH Representative List and Urgent Safeguarding List while the Best Practices List only contains 12 elements inscribed into it, it was mentioned.
Some of the ICH elements inscribed into the lists by members states are: Craftsmanship of Alençon needle lace-making in France, Royal ballet of Cambodia, Traditional skills of carpet weaving in Iran, Zimbabwe’s Mbende Jerusarema Dance, Indonesian Batik, craftsmanship and performance art of the Tar- a long neck string musical instrument in Azerbaijan, Ví and Gim folk songs of Ngh Tnh in Vietnam, arts of the Meddah- public storytellers in Turkey to name a few.
Sri Lanka has ratified the Convention in 2008 although there are no elements inscribed into the lists by Sri Lanka as at 2015.
In addition to proposing country-level nominations to be inscribed into these lists, UNESCO also encourages countries to make joint submissions for elements and UNESCO priority will be given for elements submitted by more than 10 countries.
The basic features of ICH include having a history and inheritors while continuity and the compatibility with the existing International Human Rights instruments is a must.
The seminar also focused on issues and challenges in the implementation of the Convention such as the lack of awareness, misunderstandings of ICH values, lack of human resources, technical know how, less experience in inventorying and nomination preparations, lack of understanding of key concepts and different mechanism in consistently implementing of the Convention throughout the world.
Addressing the seminar, Director General of International Training Centre for ICH in Asia Pacific Region under the Auspices of UNESCO, Xu Rong identified inventorying, awareness-raising, encouraging people to understand the importance of ICH, systematic presentation of information on ICH elements, revitalisation, strengthening of endangered ICH practices, documentation, research, identification, transmission and ensuring access to places and materials as key safeguarding measures.
The participants attending the seminar also had the opportunity to experience, first-hand, some of China’s ICH elements. This included a visit to the Chinese Diabolo Museum in Beijing- Diabolo being a traditional Chinese toy with over a 1000 year history.
An instrument which is said to have been exclusively played by the emperors and royal family members back in the day, playing and making a Diabolo is a complicated process. It was declared a protected national entity in Chinese culture.
The participants were also introduced to Chinese calligraphy during a practical session and following a visit to the National Calligraphy exhibition.
Calligraphy is the highest art in China which was used as a practical method to communicate decades back. This was followed by a visit to a carved lacquer project by one of the representative inheritors of Beijing’s carved lacquer art, Wen Qiangang.
The visit gave an insight into the complex art of carved lacquer making.
China has also made a number of other inscriptions into the ICH Convention lists for example traditional Chinese opera, Mazu beliefs/ customs and practices of fishermen of South East China, wooden arch bridge making, wooden movable type printing, Peking opera, dragon boat festival, just to name a few.
As the world is witnessing rapid globalisation and modernisation, a country’s cultural diversity becomes inevitably endangered and this is where the active participation of all stake holders to safeguard ICH becomes important as there is interdependence between Intangible Cultural Heritage and Tangible and Natural Heritage.