VIII Secretariat of the Committee

Rule 40 The Secretariat

40.1 The Committee shall be assisted by the UNESCO Secretariat (Article 10.1 of the Convention).

40.2 The Director-General or his/her representative shall participate in the work of the Committee and of the ad hoc consultative and subsidiary bodies, without the right to vote. He/She may at any time make either oral or written statements on any question under consideration.

40.3 The Director-General shall appoint an official of the Secretariat of UNESCO to act as Secretary to the Committee, and other officials who shall together constitute the Secretariat of the Committee.

40.4 The Secretariat shall receive, translate and distribute all official documents of the Committee and shall arrange for the interpretation of the discussions, as provided in Rule 43.

40.5 The Secretariat shall perform all other duties necessary for the proper conduct of the work of the Committee.

IX Working Languages and Reports

Rule 41 Working languages

41.1 The working languages of the Committee shall be English and French. Every effort shall be made, including through extrabudgetary funding, to facilitate the use of the other official languages of the United Nations as working languages. Separately, the host country may facilitate the use of its own language(s).

41.2 Statements made at a meeting of the Committee in one of the working languages shall be interpreted into the other language.

41.3 Speakers may, however, speak in any other language, provided they make their own arrangements for interpretation of their statements into one of the working languages.

41.4 The documents of the Committee shall be issued simultaneously in English and French.

Rule 42 Deadline for distribution of documents

The documents relating to the items on the provisional agenda of each session of the Committee shall be distributed to the Members of the Committee in the two working languages at the latest four weeks before the beginning of the session. They shall be provided in electronic form to accredited organizations, the public or private bodies and private persons invited to the session and to States Parties which are not members of the Committee.

Rule 43 Reports of the sessions

At the end of each session, the Committee shall adopt its report in the form of a list of decisions. This shall be published in the two working languages in the month that follows the closure of the said session.

Rule 44 Summary record

The Secretariat shall prepare a summary record of the Committee’s meetings, for approval at the opening of the next session.

Rule 45 Communication of documentation

The list of decisions and the final summary record of the debates in public meetings shall be transmitted by the Director-General to the Members of the Committee, all States Parties to the Convention, accredited organizations and the public or private bodies and private persons invited to the session.

Rule 46 Reports to the General Assembly of the States Parties and to the General Conference of UNESCO

46.1 The Committee shall submit a report on its activities and decisions to the General Assembly of the States Parties at each of its ordinary sessions and bring it to the attention of the General Conference of UNESCO at each of its ordinary sessions (Article 30.2 of the Convention).

46.2 The Committee may authorize its Chairperson to submit these reports on its behalf.

46.3 Copies of these reports shall be sent to all States Parties to the Convention.